Waters are muddier now
Believe it or not, my career experience here in the US is that independently produced IP is yours. An employer can object on competitive grounds. Granted my sampling may not represent the whole.
A few of my jobs were paid hourly, so "on company time" was clear cut. If I was not being paid for the time it was mine and so was any work or creation during that time unless I used employer's resources.
I worked salaried jobs as well. Most of it was not work from home. "On company time" was scheduled work hours even if an irregular schedule.
I did have some work from home or hotel or client site or on vacation (holiday). I only did work on vacation because I overlooked completing a report prior to leaving (I was in a hurry), had to VPN in to crunch a few numbers and generate the report. "On company time" becomes a bit less clear cut when you can work from anywhere at almost anytime and are salaried.
My current job is hourly and only a very small part of it can be work from home and only if I bring company equipment home to do it since I "don't do Windows". I have only done that once for 1/2 hour for my own convenience.
With the major shift towards WFH, another of the factors helping to determine what belongs to whom is going away.
I have tools I have created on my own time, using my own resources, some while salaried. I even used some for the job. Some are software tools, some are tangible tools. I see no difference, they are mine. I have never had something so substantial as to have an employer want to market it to their customers.
Even under the US career environment I have experienced, I think the forensic software would belong to the employer after hearing the overall circumstances.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
