Law
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Hello. I am Ed, a Solicitor qualified in England and Wales with over a decade’s experience in the legal profession advising clients.
I specialise in Commercial Contracts, Business Transactions, Employment, Dispute Resolution, Personal Injury and Road Traffic Law and shall be reviewing your legal problem today.
I shall be delighted to talk with you by phone to discuss your issue in greater detail if you accept the site’s automatic offer of a Premium Service Phone Call.
I am sorry that you are facing a potential dispute with a former employer or contractor client for non-payment of your work for them but hopefully I can assist you in resolving the matter before it escalates and you are forced to incur significant further legal costs.
Were you an employee or independent contractor?
What were the dates of your engagement?
The portal says that you are based on Guernsey. Which legal jurisdiction governed the contract?
Unfortunately, under England and Wales Law, there is a presumption that all works and Intellectual Property Rights ("IPR") carried out by an employee under a contract of employer vest in the employer, not the employee. Therefore, you have no claim against the employer for unpaid royalties under your IPRs in the work.
Furthermore, any claim for breach of contract for your unpaid commission and breach of IPR is now statute barred as such claims have a 6 year limitation period. If you issue court proceedings against the company, these will most likely be defended and struck out as statute-barred without the parties proceeding to a full-contest trial and testing the substantive issues of the case.
I hope this is a satisfactory initial reply to your question and you understand my recommendations. Please revert to me if you do not understand anything and require clarification of my answer and I shall be delighted to assist.
Kind regards
LawyerEd
I do not understand your last message. You said earlier that you were an employee between 2000 and 2002.
Were you involved with the project in 2016?
Is the company you contracted with still in existence?
I am concerned that due to the passage of time, the potential defendant may no longer be inexistence, recognisable from the corporate entity you contracted with and the work may no longer be being used.
In that case, the potential defendant is defunct and not worth suing due to the passage of time.
I am sorry that I do not have better news for you, but I must be as honest as possible with you to advise in your best interests.
If you require further legal advice from me, please create a new text thread on the portal and start it with @EdTurner. I will be notified of your request and prioritise it.
I do not understand your last question. Please rephrase it.
I have answered your questions as far as I am able to on the Portal. Obviously, there is a limited amount of advice I can give based on a few lines of text on the Just Answer instant messaging Portal. Very often the best I can do is “point you in the right direction” for the sake of seeking more detailed advice.
If you want further bespoke advice, I need to review all relevant correspondence and documents and advise in a telephone call.
I have placed an offer of a Premium Service Phone Call Request through on the Portal. If you do not want this additional service, I wish you all the very best in resolving this matter.
Best of luck!