Can my manager own the rights to the jewellery I make in my own time?
This is not an intelectual property (IP) question, although it is a confusing area. IP is an intangible business asset. Ordinarily Intellectual property is a negative right in that it gives the owner a right to prohibit others from copying without permission what has been created. It does not generate any income unless it is exploited, for example, by incorporation in a product or service which is sold. This is partly a copyright question and party competition law. It also raises questions relating to restrictive covenants. In L. Woolley Jewellers Ltd -v- A & A Jewellery (London) Ltd : [2002] EWCA CA Civ 1119 the Court of Appeal considered the trial judge’s approach to infringement of design right and concluded that in applying the test for infringement of copyright the judge had been wrong. The tests for infringement of the two rights were different. The parties were both jewellery manufacturers. The piece of jewellery in question was a pendant which made use of obsolete and imitation
