How to formalize rights to an employee-created product?

16.06.2026

Key rules for businesses in Belarus

For many modern companies, intellectual property is one of the key assets. Software, design, databases, and other results of intellectual activity often make up a significant part of IT companies’ value.

At the same time, businesses often pay less attention to the documentation of works made for hire than to the development of the product itself. Until a dispute arises, this practice may seem harmless. However, the absence of proper documentation may call into question the ownership of exclusive rights to intellectual property created by employees.

For businesses, such risks are associated not only with litigation but also with difficulties in attracting investment, commercializing intellectual property, selling a company, or scaling a product. Therefore, to avoid difficulties in proving ownership of intellectual property rights, it is essential to properly secure rights to works made for hire at an early stage.
 

When does a work qualify as a work made for hire

Belarusian law does not automatically classify all works created by an employee during working hours or on company premises as works made for hire.

For a work to be recognized as a work made for hire, two conditions must be met:

• the work must be created by an employee;
• its creation must be related to the performance of the employee’s job duties or carried out upon the employer’s assignment.

The key factor is the connection between the created result and the employee’s job duties. For example, if an employee is an assistant manager but creates computer graphics, such a result will not necessarily be considered a work made for hire solely because it was created in the company’s interests.

Even if there is a separate assignment from the employer, it is important that it corresponds to the employee’s job duties as set out in his or her employment contract. Therefore, to confirm the status of a work made for hire, it is necessary to prove its connection with the employee’s job responsibilities.
 

How to define job duties

Employee job duties are usually defined in the employment contract (in general terms) and further detailed in the job description.

If an employee’s role involves creating intellectual property, this must be explicitly reflected in the documentation. General wording such as “participates in company projects” or “performs developer functions” is often insufficient to confirm the creation of a specific intellectual property result.

Another important aspect of the employment contract is the regulation of the transfer of exclusive rights to works made for hire.
As a general rule, exclusive rights to a work made for hire arise with the employer upon its creation, unless otherwise agreed between the employer and the author. A similar approach applies to other issues, including the payment of author’s remuneration.

Therefore, companies should clearly define such terms in the employment contract, legal local acts, or other agreements with the employee in advance. The absence of clear provisions does not automatically mean the loss of rights, but it complicates the protection of the company’s interests in case of a dispute.
 

Why assignments are important

Even detailed job descriptions are often not sufficient, especially when a product is created by multiple employees and developed in stages. In such cases, a technical assignment helps establish who worked on a specific result, when, and based on which instruction.

A technical assignment allows you to:

• link the created object to the employee’s job duties;
• confirm the existence of an employer’s instruction;
• define the scope and content of the work;
• fix deadlines and project stages.

Belarusian law does not set mandatory requirements for the form of an assignment for creating a work made hire. In practice, many companies use Jira, Confluence, and other project management systems for task assignment.

This approach is acceptable; however, from an evidentiary perspective, written employer’s assignments remain the most reliable option. In practice, a hybrid model is often used: general project parameters are fixed in separate documents, while detailed task assignment is managed through project systems.
 

What additional documents should be considered

A useful tool may be an employee report on the creation of a work made for hire. Such a report helps confirm the fact of creation, determine the contribution of a specific author, record the transfer of the work to the company, and track the development history.

Additionally, the process may be supported by orders that document the start and completion of work, the composition of the project team, and the distribution of responsibilities among participants.

What businesses should remember

Proper documentation of works made for hire is not a formality or merely a matter of legal drafting. For IT businesses, it concerns the protection of one of the company’s core assets.

The clearer the employment relationships and the better the creation process is documented, the lower the risk of disputes over rights to the product. In addition, a transparent rights management system improves investment attractiveness and facilitates the commercialization of development results.