When the team is spread across three countries: what to do first
Map who created what, where, and under which contract, before a dispute or a deal forces the question. Each country applies its own version of the EU baseline for software and database rights, and the defaults are not identical. Fix authorship and assignment in writing for every jurisdiction, then hold one consolidated record naming each contributor, each tool, and each clause that assigns rights.
The EU baseline behind the different national defaults
Two EU directives set the shared floor that each of the three countries has transposed into its own law. Directive 2009/24/EC treats computer programs as literary works. It sets the working default: rights in software created by an employee in the course of their duties vest in the employer, unless the contract states otherwise.
Directive 96/9/EC gives comparable protection to structured databases, resting on the investment made by the party that assembled the data, rather than on employment status alone.
The two directives set a common floor. They do not remove the need to check how each of the three national laws implements it, and how each employment or service contract is worded.
What changes once the team is split across borders
A single-country team can usually rely on one contract template and one default rule. A team split across three countries cannot. The employee in one country may hold moral rights that cannot be waived; the contractor in another may keep economic rights unless an assignment clause says otherwise.
If any part of the stack depends on a third-party licence rather than an in-house build, continuity follows its own logic. See Support ends but the licence continues technology contract for how that plays out once support lapses.
What to do first
- List every contributor by country, role, and contract type. The in-house lead owns this list.
- Match each contract against the software or database default that applies where the work was done. External counsel per country runs this check.
- Collect a written assignment or licence for any contribution the default rule does not cover, in particular contractor and freelance work. Procurement chases the missing paperwork.
- Build one ownership file per asset — code, dataset, design — that references the underlying contract for each contributor. Legal consolidates the file.
- Set a review date ahead of any funding round, sale, or licence-out. Management fixes the date and owns the follow-up.
Who decides, and on what
Ownership is not decided by a regulator. It is settled by the contracts already in place, read against the default rule of the country where the work was created.
A dispute over authorship or assignment goes to whichever forum the relevant contract names — a national civil court or an arbitral tribunal. It turns on documentary evidence: employment or service agreements, assignment clauses, and contemporaneous records of who built what.
Three forks worth checking before anything else
If every contributor worked as an employee under a local contract, the default rule usually settles ownership on its own. Check only for moral-rights carve-outs.
If some contributions came from contractors or freelancers, silence in the contract leaves the rights with them, not with you. An explicit assignment is the only fix.
If any output has a tokenised component tied to an issuer that later moves jurisdiction, the ownership question interacts with a separate set of rules. See When the issuer changes jurisdiction in detail for that overlap.
Cost factors and turnaround
| Factor | Why it moves the estimate |
|---|---|
| Number of jurisdictions in the contributor list | Each one needs its own contract check against the local default rule. |
| Mix of employees and contractors | Contractor work needs an assignment; employee work usually does not. |
| Whether a deadline is already running | A pending funding round or sale compresses the timeline for closing gaps. |
| State of the existing paperwork | Missing signatures multiply the follow-up work more than missing clauses. |
A first response from a partner reaches you within minutes during business hours. A price for the specific file follows within one business day, once the contributor list and the contract set are in hand.
How the file is built
The working file lists every contributor, their country, their contract type, and the clause — or the gap — that governs each contribution. Each entry links to the underlying document rather than to a summary of it.
The file is built asset by asset, not team by team. Ownership questions arise per piece of code, per dataset, per design, not per person.
Sources and the limit of this page
This page does not calculate compensation, does not determine tax residence, and does not establish who holds a given asset or owes a given debt in a specific country.
Where that question concerns an asset in Sweden, the underlying report engine can establish it directly: see Asset in Sweden in practice.
Where it concerns a debtor in Sweden, the same engine applies: see Debtor in Sweden and the evidence.
Verified 12 June 2025. Sources: Directive 2009/24/EC; Directive 96/9/EC.
Related publications
A related situation covers a team that joins with prior work already attached to it: see When an acquired team brings prior work in practice for how that changes the starting point.
If your contributor list spans three countries and a deadline is already close, get the file started before the next scheduled event, not after it.
FAQ
What is the first step when the team is spread across three countries?
List every contributor by country, role, and contract type before checking any rule. The list decides which national default applies to each piece of work.
Which deadline is already running?
No statutory clock starts on its own. The practical deadline is whichever event you have already scheduled — a funding round, a sale, or a dispute — and the file needs to be complete before that event, not after.
Who decides, and on what evidence?
The contracts in place decide, read against the default rule of the country where the work was created. If a dispute arises, the forum named in the contract rules on documentary evidence: agreements, assignment clauses, and records of authorship.