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07.07.2022

Who actually owns software rights – IT professionals or IT companies?

The Russian IT sector has come under close attention after the exit of a number of IT giants from the Russian market. Our programmers now have to develop software products to replace the products of the foreign companies who left the Russian market. Plenty of programming professionals are working remotely, many of them outside Russia.

Under the circumstances associated with instability, employers have difficulties in ensuring proper legal basis for rights to software created as work-at-hire which should be sufficient to minimize the risk of claims from both its IT employees and foreign IP owners whose developments might be infringed by a software program created by the IT employee. .Although foreign companies are leaving the Russian market, their intellectual property rights remain in effect. .

While the big Russian telecommunications companies have legal departments or are able to engage legal counsel, small and medium businesses are facing risks as they lack time and financial resources for legal support. Usually, intellectual property issues are left for later, until a legal dispute occurs. This is an absolutely wrong approach. To avoid excessive time and cost-consuming proceedings, which may include more than one court, it is very important to create a secure legal basis including proper documents to regulate the relationship between the employer and its IP employee.