Whose IP?

[JoRuby]

Ok for any legal eagles a complex one!!!!

An e-learning platform is developed by a Company
Modifications are made to the platform for it to meet our requirements
Our associates use the website to share learning across our organisation.

Who would own which bits of the IP?

I assume that we own the modifications and the content as we pay a hosting fee for this

This is a legacy issue before anyone mentions contracts as it was effectively transferred over to us. Contracts supplied by the Company are vague as its effectively a "switch" in their business activity and this doesnt seem to have been taken account of if the terms and conditions.

On "our" side (prior to transfer) this was a grant with no IP stipulations

Any comments/advice/signposting gratefully received

[noidea]

Ok for any legal eagles a complex one!!!!

An e-learning platform is developed by a Company
Modifications are made to the platform for it to meet our requirements
Our associates use the website to share learning across our organisation.

Who would own which bits of the IP?

I assume that we own the modifications and the content as we pay a hosting fee for this

This is a legacy issue before anyone mentions contracts as it was effectively transferred over to us. Contracts supplied by the Company are vague as its effectively a "switch" in their business activity and this doesnt seem to have been taken account of if the terms and conditions.

On "our" side (prior to transfer) this was a grant with no IP stipulations

Any comments/advice/signposting gratefully received
Ask the company who owns the IP!

[JoRuby]

thanks for the reply
we actually have a problem with the company and I want to make sure I'm fully aware of our situation before I start any kind of negotiations to resolve things.

[noidea]

Oh right I see. I would presume that you don't own any IP apart from the modifications which becomes irrelevant as its modification of their initial IP rights.

Hopefully someone would be able to come along and assist you better then myself!

[rjharrison]

I don't think you explained the situation very well.

But... the Platform is probably licensed to you by the company that wrote the software. Depending on the terms of the license, you may or may not have the right to modify the software and make modifications (so if you modified it yourself, then you might be in breach of your license). If you paid The Company (ie the company that is licensing the software to you?) to write the modifications, then unless otherwise specified I would presume they own the IP and have licensed those modifications to you under the same terms as the original software. If you made the modifications legally or if they were modifications of a "plugin" nature (like templates or add-ons that didn't interfere with the main software) then I would expect you (or whoever wrote the modifications) to own that IP.

I would expect the "content" / "data" to belong to whoever has provided them. Eg if you've written your own training lessons and put them into the Platform, then you will own the copyright to those lessons.