An interesting case about the scope of an employer’s copyright was handled by judges in The Netherlands last month. A former employee of the Central Archives Service (CAS) had developed new software applications. He did this at home and on free days and weekends, but at some stage he worked on further development of the system during office hours. The employee claimed the copyright on the software, but that claim was dismissed. This case demonstrates that there is quite a strong presumption that an employee is working on behalf of his employer, unless proven otherwise. The copyright belonged to the State, as the inventors employer, under Art. 7 of the Dutch copyright law.

The government employee worked on the new software package in his own time at home. Because he thought the idea would also be useful to his employer, he informed his boss on his invention. His manager saw use in the project and they agreed that he could work on it during office hours. At some point the inventor saved the software onto the CAS office systems. No agreements on copyright were made. As soon as the employee claimed copyright on the software, including a copyright notice in the source code, discussions started. The State argued that the development of the software was essentially done in the context of his work for the archives service and during working hours. The Court agreed with this. Although there was no explicit order or request by the manager to develop the software, these activities should be seen as acts that fall under the "broad mandate" of the employee, according to the judges.

Source: Court of Appeal, The Hague, 22 februari 2011, zaaknr. 200.006.902/01, [X] vs. The Kingdom of the Netherlands