Does the Trust employer own by law the IP a NHS employee generates?
• Unless there is an existing agreement, if the employee generates IP in the course of duties or normal employment then by law the IP belongs to the Trust. However, for IP, which is patentable, that IP must have been expected to arise for the Trust to own it automatically. IP would be expected to arise from R & D and would therefore be owned by the Trust, but when it arises from the delivery of patient care it may not be expected and the Trust may not have a legal claim. However, patenting requires a full disclosure of an invention in a patent application, and its development would normally use NHS resources and would give the Trust a strong claim to ownership of the IP. To remove argument, the Employment Guidance proposes that employees formally assign their rights in IP to the Trust and then share in any benefit derived from its exploitation as any other employee.
