From the Experts
In today's technology-rich environment, in-house corporate
counsel must necessarily handle a range of agreements that
implicate intellectual property issues. Here are five key IP
considerations to be aware of when retaining a contractor to
develop software for your company.
1. Get Ownership Right
Companies can benefit from owning the IP rights in developed
software; IP owners can use, commercialize, and modify the software
free of the scope restrictions and termination risks often
associated with license agreements. However, developers may have
legitimate reasons to retain IP ownership; for example, they have
invested knowledge capital in the project and may be able to reuse
code or build on it for other client projects. Before insisting
that IP ownership is a "must," consider whether the
software will be competitively sensitive (i.e., will it matter if
the developer creates something similar for others?) and whether
your company is likely to
