Employer rights over your designs
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- isakosmo
I guess this is usually something to negociate in your contract, but just wondering if anyone knows much about your rights over designs you do whilst employed by an agency?
The boss of my old agency contacted me today asking me to take down the names of the clients i mentioned in my portfolio site, saying it's confidential information that belongs to the company. Not a huge deal as it's quite old work anyway, but just wondering if by default a company owns the rights to all the work you do whilst you're employed by them, is this something you need to specify in your contract?
Be interested to hear people's experience on this.
Cheers
- hellojeehae0
i would think so. I dont think i can post anything I worked under my work unless I got permission from my company.
- ukit0
Maybe you should read the contract you signed?
It would probably fall under whatever confidentiality clause was included.
- monkeyshine0
what kind of contract is it? If you are working for an agency it is likely that you signed a work-for-hire agreement in which case the agency retains ownership of your work.
- gramme0
It's good to get permission for the sake of maintaining relationships; but unless you're bound by contract—from a strictly legal perspective—you are not actually required to ask permission. This is provided that you are not misrepresenting your role in the project, and that you aren't posing any direct competition to the firm (trying to steal their clients, etc.)
Yes, the firm owns the intellectual rights to all work unless they sign it away, but you also have the right to pursue gainful employment. This means being able to show the fruits of your labor. Ideally, a firm will agree to letting you show the work with proper credits (most firms/agencies are cool with this); but there remains a fair number who will emphatically say "no" to your request, perhaps even scolding you or threatening you in the process.
So it comes down to (a) is a contract in effect, (b) how badly do you want/need to show that work, and (c) how important is it to remain on good terms with the former employer.
- Mind you, this is in the U.S. No idea how it goes down elsewhere.gramme
- utopian0
The employer owns all of work during your employment.
- Etype0
depends on the contract... and if you want to use that boss as a reference ever
- Josev0
Yes, your employer owns all of your work, but as gramme pointed out, you can display the work as long as you are clear about what your role was in its creation. The only time this would be a problem is if your contract stipulated that you couldn't show any work created while under employment.
- Josev0
I'm surprised at how often firms don't even have have a proper contract but then try to bully ex-employees. I think it's even hard to enforce some items that do exist in contracts, like non-compete clauses.
- wademd0
So, if I am working at a place that didn't have me sign a contract. Is it safe to assume I can use the pieces in my portfolio without asking for permission?
- ukit0
Sure, go for it, what's the worst that can happen?