Intellectual property rights in employment relations under Nigeria law: untying the Gordian knot

Abstract

In an employment contract, the employee offers his labour in exchange for wages from the employer. In the course of the employment, the employer is duty-bound to provide the employee with tools and necessarily implement s as well as a conducive environment to work. During the subsistence of the contract. or immediately after, it is possible for the employee who has conceived an idea to birth an invention. Where this happens, the issue of intellectual property right arises. Between the employer and the inventor-employee, who is the owner of such an invention? Where the employment contract makes provision for ownership, the issue is settled as pacts sunt servanda prevails however, if it is silent, the quagmire is hazy. Would it make any difference if the invention is a product of the employee's spare time or made solely from materials personally sourced by the employee? This paper adopts doctrinal research methodology in examining these issues by interrogating the common law and statutory position on the subject. It examines ownership between an independent contractor and the person who contracted the work resulting to the invention. It found that the common law position protects capital against labor while the statutes lay down genera rules to regulate such inventive endeavors. The paper through recommendations, suggest an equitable meeting point on the issue of ownership of inventions as between the employer and the employee invented during or immediately after the determination of the employment contract.