Northwestern University and former employee in copyright infringement dispute

When it comes to copyright law, companies need to have the proper legal agreements in place to ensure that former employees do not leave with valuable intellectual property when they leave a job. Under certain circumstances, work that an employee produces may be subject to limitations. If the proper agreements are arranged, an employee will not be able to legally take work that they created while at that company with them after they leave, or use it to create derivative works. 

Despite the legal ramifications of doing so, this infringement may happen anyway. Such is the case with a recent copyright lawsuit involving Northwestern University and a former employee that used to write for the university. 

According to an article from the Chicago Tribune, Northwestern hired Nina Barrett to work part-time writing a book. However, Barrett left her job, and the university claims that she took the manuscript with her. It also claims that she took other files related to the job. 

As the article details, Northwestern found that Barrett had taken files off her laptop. The lawsuit claims that the former employee had also restricted access to some files. Since Barrett did not obtain the University's permission to take these actions, a lawsuit is at hand. 

Northwestern claims in the lawsuit that Barrett recreated the book proposal. Derivative works were also cited as something that had been reproduced after Barrett left her position with the university. 

The results of this lawsuit remain to be seen, but it is worth highlighting that having the necessary legal agreements in place with employees will help businesses protect against intellectual property theft. Contact a Phoenix, AZ small business attorney to learn more about what can be done to keep your assets safe from would-be infringers. 

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