About this Employee Handbook Policy
This policy is designed to protect your organization’s intellectual property rights to materials employees create for the benefit of your organization, such as books, research, software, etc. Trademark and copyright are two forms of intellectual property protection.
Here’s why this policy matters. Suppose you direct an employee to write a manual explaining church doctrine. Your organization distributes the manual to pastors in your denomination. After the employee quits, he claims to be the manual’s author and attempts to collect a royalty fee each time your organization copies or distributes the manual.
Typically, work an employee creates on behalf of an employer belongs to the employer. Without a work product policy, it may be unclear who owns the rights to the manual. With a work product policy, you may allow employees to obtain rights if you choose, but you can decide when to grant this permission.
If you include this policy in your organization’s handbook, don’t modify the language extensively without the assistance of local legal counsel. For example, the policy includes language regarding your ownership rights if a development is created “in whole or in part on your organization’s time.” If you remove this section, an employee could argue that most of the work was done at home on the employee’s own time. It’s very difficult to prove otherwise, after the fact.
Copyrighted Materials
While we have not included a sample policy on the use of copyrighted materials, you may consider including such a policy in your handbook. Copyright law applies to numerous items, such as journals, publications, sheet music, recordings, and photographs. However, due to the complexity of copyright law, the intellectual property rights of others are easily and frequently violated. While some exceptions apply to educational and not-for-profit organizations, the general principles of copyright law still apply. Consult legal counsel to assist you in drafting and approving a copyright policy.
Optional sample policy text appears below in italics.
