Who owns intellectual property created at work?

You write the care home’s menus, build a better stock spreadsheet or find a way to stop the packing machine jamming. Your employer says it all belongs to them. Sometimes it does. But “you made it while working here” is not the legal test, and a clause claiming every idea you ever have is not the last word.

What your employer owns, and what stays yours

Intellectual property, or IP, means rights in creations such as written work, designs and inventions. Different rights can exist in the same project. Copyright in an app’s code and rights in an invention it implements need not have the same owner.

First establish whether you are an employee, another kind of worker or self-employed. Automatic employer ownership rules apply to employees under a contract of service. Other creators usually keep their rights unless an agreement transfers them. Agency staff need to check who, if anyone, employs them. Then ask what you created and whether it was part of your duties.

Copyright: the rule you will meet most

Section 11 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 normally makes the employer first owner of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, and films, made by an employee in the course of employment. That includes writing, photographs and code. An agreement can reserve rights to you.

Your own laptop does not make job-related work yours. Using a work computer does not, by itself, make a personal creation your employer’s. Your duties matter more than the clock or location.

Copyright is automatic, with no UK registration application. Most written and artistic works are protected for the author’s life plus 70 years; other categories differ. Employee moral rights are limited. The right to be identified does not generally apply. Section 82 restricts objections to employer-authorised derogatory treatment, including where you have not been identified. You cannot assume a veto over edits.

Inventions: a much narrower claim

Section 39 of the Patents Act 1977 gives your employer ownership of an employee invention only where one of these tests is met:

• You made it in your normal duties, or duties specifically assigned to you, and an invention might reasonably have been expected to result.
• You made it in your duties and, because of those duties and your responsibilities, you had a special obligation to further your employer’s interests.

The second test often matters for senior roles, but seniority alone is not enough. Other employee inventions belong to you. Section 42 makes contractual terms unenforceable insofar as they diminish your statutory rights in inventions made after entering the contract. It does not remove confidentiality duties.

A patent requires a new invention, an inventive step and industrial application. A better rota or business method is not automatically patentable. Protection can last up to 20 years, subject to renewal. Get specialist advice before publishing technical details.

Can you claim a share of the value?

For an employer-owned invention with a granted patent, section 40 allows compensation if the invention, patent or both provide an outstanding benefit and an award is just. The size and nature of the employer’s undertaking matter. Section 41 determines a fair share, not a fixed percentage. There is also a route where you transferred your own patented invention to the employer and received an inadequate benefit. A relevant collective agreement can replace the statutory compensation route.

Designs, databases and brand names

The employer normally owns UK unregistered design right and is original proprietor under the Registered Designs Act 1949 for employee designs made in the course of employment. The commissioner-owns rule was removed on 1 October 2014. Paying a freelance designer does not itself transfer ownership; agree the rights.

For a qualifying database made by an employee in the course of employment, the employer normally counts as maker under regulation 14. Trade marks protect brand identifiers. Their registered proprietor can renew registration every 10 years. Designing a logo does not make you the proprietor of the registered mark.

Why your contract status changes everything

Your actual relationship determines status. “Self-employed” paperwork does not settle it. If you work set shifts under close control, get status advice.

For an agency employee, automatic ownership normally points to the agency, not the host. A non-employee agency worker does not trigger the employee default. Read agency and placement terms for transfers through the chain. A copyright assignment needs signed writing.

Keeping copyright does not necessarily let you stop the commissioning client’s use. An agreed or implied licence may permit use without transferring ownership. Check which the contract grants.

Whistleblowing’s wider worker definition covers many agency staff and some people described as freelance. Check protection for your relationship and disclosure separately from IP ownership.

Confidentiality, trade secrets and NDAs

An NDA, or non-disclosure agreement, is a confidentiality promise, either standalone or in a contract or settlement. It can protect legitimate business information. It does not make every workplace problem a company secret.

You owe confidentiality duties during employment. After leaving, the implied duty protects trade secrets, not general skill and knowledge, following Faccenda Chicken v Fowler. An express clause may go further, subject to enforceability and statutory disclosure rights. Read the contract.

Under the Trade Secrets Regulations 2018, information must be secret, commercially valuable because it is secret, and subject to reasonable protective steps. A confidential customer list may qualify. Your experience of cooking, cleaning or caring is not your employer’s property. Patient confidentiality and data obligations remain separate.

What an NDA cannot stop you saying

In Great Britain, section 43J voids terms preventing a worker’s protected disclosure, including settlement clauses. Protection depends on reasonable belief, public interest and the disclosure route. It does not authorise posting every allegation online. Check our whistleblowing guide before choosing who to tell.

An NDA cannot stop a police report. England and Wales crime victims have extra rights under section 17 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, in force from 1 October 2025. This includes reasonable belief that you are a victim. Permitted disclosures include seeking legal advice or support from specified professionals, victim services and close family.

The purpose and recipient matter. Acas explains that close family here means children, parents, spouses, civil partners and long-term partners, not every relative or friend. Disclosure to a regulator under this route is for cooperating with its investigation, not an unrestricted right to initiate a report. The CICA compensation provisions apply to NDAs signed on or after 12 December 2025 and also cover relevant court or tribunal proceedings. These rights do not authorise disclosure mainly to put information in the public domain.

From 1 August 2025, English higher education providers cannot use NDAs to prevent staff or student disclosures of sexual misconduct, abuse, harassment or bullying. From 6 April 2026, sexual harassment is expressly a qualifying whistleblowing subject in Great Britain. The other protected-disclosure conditions still apply.

Offered a settlement with a gagging clause

A settlement’s statutory waiver requires independent advice with appropriate insurance or indemnity cover and identification of the particular complaints or proceedings settled. Without that advice, the waiver is invalid; other contractual promises do not necessarily disappear. Ask the employer to confirm its contribution to the advice fee.

1. Get advice before agreeing. Send your adviser the whole draft, your contract and the complaints you want resolved. Check which claims you would give up and which obligations survive.
2. Protect lawful disclosures. Ask for clear wording preserving whistleblowing, police reports and other statutory rights. Seek express permission to speak to your union and chosen support people where no automatic exception applies.
3. Define what stays confidential. Ask the employer to identify the information it wants protected. Negotiate exclusions for public information, your general skills and unrelated personal projects. Check whether ownership transfers, a moral-rights waiver or a non-compete has been added.
4. Set the terms you will need later. Check the payment date, tax wording, agreed reference and who may give it. Ask what happens if the employer breaches its promises. Negotiate permission to discuss harassment or discrimination rather than relying on the planned reform.

For the full signing checklist, see Settlement agreements: should I sign? If the deal follows harassment, read Sexual harassment at work: employer duties alongside it.

Section 111A “protected conversation” rules concern ordinary unfair dismissal, not discrimination or automatically unfair dismissal. Improper behaviour can limit protection. Separate without-prejudice rules may apply to an existing dispute.

Skills and non-competes when you leave

A non-compete tries to stop you working for a competitor after leaving. It must be no wider than reasonably necessary to protect a legitimate business interest. Signing does not settle enforceability, but disregarding it can risk court proceedings.

The proposed three-month statutory cap was never enacted. The government’s working paper considered bans and salary thresholds, with responses closing on 18 February 2026. As at 1 October 2026, those proposals have not changed the law. See our restrictive covenants guide.

What to do if your employer claims your work or silences you

1. Record the claim. Note what you created, when, your duties and who asked you to make it. Ask the employer in writing to identify the rights claimed and the contract clause or legal rule relied on.
2. Do not sign a fresh transfer under pressure. Send any assignment, NDA or settlement to your union or an adviser. Do not publish an invention or take confidential files while ownership is disputed.
3. Choose the right legal route. IP ownership and confidentiality disputes generally belong in the civil courts. Patent matters, including employee compensation, may go to the Intellectual Property Office. Retaliation for whistleblowing, discrimination or dismissal may require a separate tribunal claim.
4. Protect the deadline. Contact Acas promptly for a Great Britain employment claim. An internal grievance or settlement discussion does not stop the tribunal clock. If you have been dismissed for whistleblowing, seek urgent advice about interim relief.

Civil IP remedies may include injunctions, damages, an account of profits or delivery up of infringing material. Ask an IP specialist about the forum and costs. Inventor compensation has separate procedures and time limits, not the employment tribunal deadline.

Tribunal deadlines changed on 1 October 2026

Acas’s current guidance says most Great Britain claims about problems arising before 1 October 2026 still have a limit of three months minus one day. For problems arising on or after that date, most have six months minus one day. It is the date of the problem, not the date you submit the claim, that determines the starting rule. Scottish employment tribunal breach-of-contract claims change on 9 November 2026 instead. Continuing conduct and multiple claims need individual advice.

Interim relief for certain dismissals, including whistleblowing dismissal, has a seven-day limit. The general extension does not replace it. Seek urgent advice if you have just been dismissed for reporting wrongdoing.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Core IP statutes apply UK-wide. The extra England and Wales crime-victim disclosure list does not apply in Scotland. Section 6 of the Victims and Courts Act 2026 provides a broader rule but is not yet in force.

Northern Ireland uses separate employment law. Article 67J voids protected-disclosure gags. Do not apply the Great Britain tribunal extension or planned NDA reform there. Start with the Labour Relations Agency. Unpaid awards use the Enforcement of Judgments Office; enforcement also differs between Scotland and England and Wales.

The Fair Work Agency’s penalty and naming scheme covers unpaid Great Britain tribunal awards, not IP ownership. Established on 7 April 2026, the agency can penalise non-payment. Recovering your debt is separate.

Ask about union representation: USDAW for retail, UNISON for care and health, Unite for hospitality and logistics, GMB for warehouses and security, or IWGB for many gig workers. Check cover for disputes that predate joining. Acas, Citizens Advice and law centres can help identify the route. Specialist IP litigation may need separate funding.

Questions people ask

Does my employer own what I make at home?

Location does not decide ownership. Work you do at home as part of your employment can belong to your employer. An unrelated personal project usually stays yours, subject to a valid contractual assignment. Inventions have the separate section 39 tests and section 42 safeguards.

My contract says all inventions belong to the company. Is that binding?

Not insofar as it cuts down your statutory rights in employee inventions made after entering the contract. Section 42 prevents that. It does not mean every IP clause is invalid or that you can disclose the employer’s confidential information.

Can an NDA stop me reporting harassment?

It cannot prevent a protected disclosure or a police report. But every harassment allegation is not automatically a protected disclosure, and the wider Great Britain restrictions are planned for 2027, not in force now. Get advice on the recipient, purpose and legal protection before disclosing publicly.

I am agency staff. Who owns work I create on placement?

Check whether you are an employee and who employs you. If it is the agency, automatic employer ownership normally starts there; the host may acquire rights by agreement. Non-employee agency workers do not fall within the employee default solely because they are on placement. Read the assignment terms. See our agency workers guide.

Sources

1. Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 11, legislation.gov.uk. Employee ownership.
2. Copyright duration, section 12, legislation.gov.uk.
3. Moral-rights exceptions, section 79 and qualifications, section 82, legislation.gov.uk.
4. Copyright assignments, section 90, legislation.gov.uk.
5. Design right ownership, section 215 and Registered Designs Act 1949, section 2, legislation.gov.uk.
6. Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997, regulation 14, legislation.gov.uk.
7. Trade Marks Act 1994, section 42, legislation.gov.uk. Registration term and renewal.
8. Patents Act 1977, section 39, section 40, section 41 and section 42, legislation.gov.uk. Ownership, compensation and contractual safeguards.
9. Apply for a patent, Intellectual Property Office, GOV.UK.
10. Shanks v Unilever [2019] UKSC 45 and press summary, Supreme Court, 23 October 2019.
11. Trade Secrets Regulations 2018, regulation 2, legislation.gov.uk.
12. Faccenda Chicken Ltd v Fowler [1987] Ch 117, Court of Appeal. Implied post-employment confidentiality duty.
13. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 43J and Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, Article 67J, legislation.gov.uk.
14. Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, section 17 and Sharing information about a crime, Acas. Permitted recipients, purposes and CICA commencement.
15. Victims and Courts Act 2026, section 6, legislation.gov.uk. Prospective provision.
16. Using non-disclosure agreements, Acas. Higher education restrictions.
17. Employment Rights Act 2025, section 23 and section 24, legislation.gov.uk.
18. Plan to Make Work Pay and Employment Rights Act: timeline update, GOV.UK, updated 25 September 2026.
19. Settlement agreements and Confidentiality, Acas.
20. UK NDA Fact Sheet 2026, Can’t Buy My Silence. Self-selecting misconduct dataset; not workforce prevalence.
21. Working paper on options for reform of non-compete clauses, Department for Business and Trade.
22. Employment tribunal time limits, Acas, updated 1 October 2026. Transitional rules, early conciliation and seven-day interim relief.
23. Payment of employment tribunal awards, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2013. Historical payment findings.
24. Employment tribunal penalty enforcement and naming scheme, GOV.UK.