Why do employment contracts need a clause to cover &quot;work for hire&quot;?
<p>Under normal employment law in the UK, work done for a company on company time is considered &quot;work for hire&quot; and the relevant IP belongs to that company.</p>
<p>That being the case why do employment contracts contain a clause repeating this?</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;To the extent permitted by law, all rights in patents, copyright,
registered design right, design right, trademarks or know how which
may be created by you during the course of your employment
(&quot;Intellectual Property&quot;) will belong to XXXX absolutely. Any internet
domain names registered by you in the course of your employment shall
be registered in the name of XXXX. &quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is this strictly necessary? and if so why?</p>

<h2>Certainty is better than uncertainty</h2>
<p>You know the law and I know the law and this company knows the law but there may be people taking this job who do not know the law. By putting it explicitly in the contract they are now aware that they don’t own the IP and this may avoid a dispute later on. A dispute avoided is way better than a dispute resolved.</p>

copyright contract-law work-for-hire