Intellectual Property in Commercial Settings
Joint ownership
Joint ownership in intellectual property means that two or more people have equal ownership, equal rights and equal say in how the IP is used and commercialized. A joint owner could either be a person or a corporation. Both copyright and patent laws recognize the concept of ‘joint ownership’ in the following two ways.
By creation
If two or more persons jointly create a creative work or an invention, the work is automatically owned by all the persons who contributed to the creation of the creative work/invention.
Jax and Sue decide to write a book together.
They write collaboratively, sending drafts back and forth, and both writing into all chapters and editing the final work.
At the end of this collaborative process, it is impossible to pull apart the book into ‘parts written by Jax’ and ‘parts written by Sue’. This is a true collaborative creation, and so Jax and Sue will own copyright jointly in the entire book as a literary work.
It’s important to note that when determining joint ownership, the quality of contribution is important rather than the quantity.
Note: In copyright, where the work can be broken into separate parts, then those parts will be owned by their respective creators and not jointly. For example, if Jax writes 5 chapters and Sue writes 3 chapters for the book, then they will each be authors of, and copyright owners in, their individual chapters. Similarly, if Jax and Sue write a song together, but Jax writes the lyrics and Sue writes the music, then Jax will be the copyright owner in the literary work (the lyrics) and Sue will be the owner of the musical work. They will not own copyright jointly.
ExampleA patent under two names
Dr Mojo and Dr Dodo are independent researchers.
They combined their research efforts and developed a new medicine for heart patients.
Both Dr Mojo and Dr Dodo will be known as joint inventors of the medicine, and can file a single patent application under both their names.
If the patent is granted, they will be joint patent owners of the invention.
By agreement
Another means of creating a joint ownership is by way of an agreement. Two or more persons may jointly decide to own the copyright or patent rights in a creative work or invention under an agreement. To be valid, this agreement should be in writing and signed by all parties.
ExampleDaniel's tune
Daniel works as an independent musician.
Daniel creates a short tune for a local company’s ad campaign.
Prior to Daniel creating the tune, both parties enter into a written agreement that they shall jointly own the copyright in the tune.
In this example, even though the advertising company did not actually create the tune, it was able to jointly own the tune with Daniel (the creator) through an agreement.
ExampleA successful experiment
Dr Mojo has a research idea for a new medicine for heart patients.
He approaches a local pharmaceutical company for collaboration, as they have the resources that Dr Mojo requires to conduct his experiments.
Both parties enter into a written agreement that if the experiment is successful, they shall have joint ownership in the invention.
In this example, even though Dr Mojo is the actual inventor, the pharmaceutical company is entitled under the agreement to file a joint patent application with Dr Mojo and become joint patent owners.