Organizations should include explicit intellectual property ownership provisions within employment contracts, contractor agreements, consultancy agreements, statements of work, and other applicable engagement terms. The provisions should establish ownership and assignment requirements for intellectual property, work product, inventions, materials, and other proprietary outputs created in the course of the subject's duties or engagement, subject to applicable law.

The clause should distinguish organizationally owned work product from pre-existing or independently developed intellectual property and should establish how the use of organizational information, systems, resources, facilities, funding, or other assets affects ownership and permitted use. Where intellectual property does not automatically vest in the organization, the agreement should require appropriate assignment or licensing sufficient to protect the organization's legitimate interests.

The contractual terms should make clear that authorship, contribution, access, or custody does not independently confer a right to retain, reproduce, disclose, commercialize, or transfer organizational intellectual property. Subjects should be prohibited from removing organizational work product for personal portfolios, subsequent employment, external commercial activity, or other personal purposes unless specifically authorized.

Organizations should ensure that intellectual property provisions are reviewed by appropriate Legal and HR stakeholders for the applicable jurisdiction and type of engagement, and that relevant obligations survive termination or expiry where legally enforceable.

Sections

ID	Name	Description
MT025	Entitlement	A subject believes they have a personal right to organizational information, intellectual property, systems, resources, access, or work product that exceeds the rights granted to them by the organization. The belief may arise because the subject created, developed, maintained, managed, discovered, or materially contributed to the asset, or because prolonged access has caused the subject to regard it as personally theirs to retain or use. Entitlement may cause a subject to disregard ownership, confidentiality, access, or retention requirements because they do not perceive their actions as taking something to which they have no legitimate claim. The subject may retain source code, customer information, research, documents, credentials, equipment, or other organizational assets for personal reference, future employment, a subsequent business venture, or another purpose while rationalizing the infringement on the basis of contribution or perceived ownership.
MT005.006	Career or Business Advantage	A subject seeks to use organizational information, intellectual property, relationships, access, or other resources to improve their professional or commercial position. This may include obtaining employment, increasing their perceived value to a prospective or new employer, accelerating performance in a new role, establishing a competing business, or providing an advantage to a business the subject intends to join or create. The anticipated benefit does not need to involve an immediate payment or direct financial transaction. The subject's primary objective is the professional or commercial advantage obtained from the infringement.