Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Massachusetts

Copyright of Codes for EMR

I am employed in the health care field and we are converting to an electronic medical record. The software was bought as a blank slate and we must write our own codes by which the software will work. In amongst my other daily work, I created over 1000 codes in a unique way, not suggested by the company. Other health care organizations would like me to ''give'' them a copy of my codes and the company is interested in paying to obtain the right to use my codes as well. As I was paid on company time to write the codes, I know my employer has some rights to the codes. I would like to copyright the codes as they are my creation and real intellectual property. Do I have any rights to these codes including the right to copyright the codes as an individual?


Asked on 4/27/05, 9:25 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Emanuel Torti TORTI FLANAGAN, P.C.

Re: Copyright of Codes for EMR

If writing the code is directly within your job resonsibility then the company owns them. You did not mention whether you singed a proprietary rights agrement that would more explicitly set forth you understanding with them. Generally, codes are copyrightable. Is sounds like your coding is a taxonomy of sorts. You should investigate further.

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Answered on 4/27/05, 9:46 am


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