⚠ The Company Does Not Automatically Own What It BuildsModerate threat

Text (TXT) — threat to the moat

Text's title to its own source code is a continuous administrative achievement rather than a structural fact, and its filings say so.

This is the most unusual disclosure in the company and Text makes it without drama.

How copyright reaches the company271 contractors,0 employeesNo automaticvestingIndividualcontract neededDependson their willPolish law also forbids contracting for all of a creator's future works at once
Text's title to its own source code is an administrative achievement, not a structural fact.

Because no member of the team works under an employment contract1, the provision of copyright law that vests rights in an employer at the moment work is accepted does not operate. Rights in the works Text's people create — computer programs included — transfer only under the general rules, meaning a specific agreement about specific work2.

Polish copyright law then closes the obvious workaround. It prohibits a contract covering all of a creator's works, or all works of a given type, to be created in the future3. Rights in future work can be assigned, but only if the work is designated with enough precision, and Text says plainly that in practice there is a problem with designating future work such that the contract is effective4.

The company spells out the failure case: if a team member creates a work the company needs and no contract was previously concluded, an individual contract with that person becomes necessary, which also depends on the will of that person, and may therefore give rise to a dispute5.

In the ordinary course this is paperwork, and 271 people6 with a 15% turnover rate7 mostly sign. But it means the company's title to its own source code is a continuous administrative achievement rather than a structural fact, and it is the one risk here that a competitor cannot cause and money cannot fully solve.

There is no number that tracks this. The disclosure is the signal, and it has appeared in successive annual reports without being resolved.

References
  1. ReportedBecause no member of the team works under an employment contract, the provision of copyright law that vests rights in an employer at the moment work is accepted does not operate.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, team, intellectual property and shareholders (a team of 271 people at 31 March 2026, up 6,7%, consisting of independent persons and sole proprietors called Partners on civil-law contracts, with the company having no employees under employment contracts, a rotation rate of 22% and turnover of 15%, mostly working from Wroclaw on a hybrid basis with 95% Polish citizens; the disclosed risk that because no team member works under an employment contract copyright does not vest automatically, transfers require individual agreements, Polish law forbids contracting for all future works of a given type, and an absent contract leaves the company dependent on the creator's will and open to dispute; a seventh United States patent granted in June 2026 for configuring a communication widget directly on a website; and 25 750 000 shares of 0,02 złoty each, one vote per share and none privileged, with a shareholders' consortium holding 10 625 752 shares or 41,27% of votes and two Polish pension funds above 5%) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedRights in the works Text's people create - computer programs included - transfer only under the general rules, meaning a specific agreement about specific work.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, margins, costs and cash (gross profit margin on sales of 67,6%, operating margin 38,6% and net margin 35,4%; cloud infrastructure costs rising, the migration completing in July 2025 after more than a year of duplicated cost, and completion not translating into cost reductions because of price increases regardless of provider and a deliberately expanded scope of purchased services; increased consulting, legal and public relations costs; fourth-quarter costs falling on cloud optimisation; a warning that more intensive use of artificial intelligence may cause further cost increases and that rising AI costs should press hardest on competitors offering free or freemium products; operating cash flow of PLN 161,6m and PLN 62,8m of cash; and a dividend policy of allocating the highest possible part of profit to shareholders) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedIt prohibits a contract covering all of a creator's works, or all works of a given type, to be created in the future.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, margins, costs and cash (gross profit margin on sales of 67,6%, operating margin 38,6% and net margin 35,4%; cloud infrastructure costs rising, the migration completing in July 2025 after more than a year of duplicated cost, and completion not translating into cost reductions because of price increases regardless of provider and a deliberately expanded scope of purchased services; increased consulting, legal and public relations costs; fourth-quarter costs falling on cloud optimisation; a warning that more intensive use of artificial intelligence may cause further cost increases and that rising AI costs should press hardest on competitors offering free or freemium products; operating cash flow of PLN 161,6m and PLN 62,8m of cash; and a dividend policy of allocating the highest possible part of profit to shareholders) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedRights in future work can be assigned, but only if the work is designated with enough precision, and Text says plainly that in practice there is a problem with designating future work such that the contract is effective.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, margins, costs and cash (gross profit margin on sales of 67,6%, operating margin 38,6% and net margin 35,4%; cloud infrastructure costs rising, the migration completing in July 2025 after more than a year of duplicated cost, and completion not translating into cost reductions because of price increases regardless of provider and a deliberately expanded scope of purchased services; increased consulting, legal and public relations costs; fourth-quarter costs falling on cloud optimisation; a warning that more intensive use of artificial intelligence may cause further cost increases and that rising AI costs should press hardest on competitors offering free or freemium products; operating cash flow of PLN 161,6m and PLN 62,8m of cash; and a dividend policy of allocating the highest possible part of profit to shareholders) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThe company spells out the failure case: if a team member creates a work the company needs and no contract was previously concluded, an individual contract with that person becomes necessary, which also depends on the will of that person, and may therefore give rise to a dispute.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, clients and customer acquisition (customers in around 150 countries across effectively all sectors, with the USA, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and Indonesia the most important markets and Poland about 1,5% of revenue in twelfth place; customers using more than one product at 38,8% of MRR, up seven percentage points, and accounts above USD 500 a month passing 50% of MRR; and the year's largest new contracts including an increase to seven figures with an American online retail company, a postal service in the British Isles, an Asian industrial automation company, a Kyoto corporation, a Texas dental group, a Scandinavian food company and universities in the United States, New Zealand and Singapore) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedIn the ordinary course this is paperwork, and 271 people with a 15% turnover rate mostly sign.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, team, intellectual property and shareholders (a team of 271 people at 31 March 2026, up 6,7%, consisting of independent persons and sole proprietors called Partners on civil-law contracts, with the company having no employees under employment contracts, a rotation rate of 22% and turnover of 15%, mostly working from Wroclaw on a hybrid basis with 95% Polish citizens; the disclosed risk that because no team member works under an employment contract copyright does not vest automatically, transfers require individual agreements, Polish law forbids contracting for all future works of a given type, and an absent contract leaves the company dependent on the creator's will and open to dispute; a seventh United States patent granted in June 2026 for configuring a communication widget directly on a website; and 25 750 000 shares of 0,02 złoty each, one vote per share and none privileged, with a shareholders' consortium holding 10 625 752 shares or 41,27% of votes and two Polish pension funds above 5%) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedIn the ordinary course this is paperwork, and 271 people with a 15% turnover rate mostly sign.
    Text Group Management Board report for 2025/26, team, intellectual property and shareholders (a team of 271 people at 31 March 2026, up 6,7%, consisting of independent persons and sole proprietors called Partners on civil-law contracts, with the company having no employees under employment contracts, a rotation rate of 22% and turnover of 15%, mostly working from Wroclaw on a hybrid basis with 95% Polish citizens; the disclosed risk that because no team member works under an employment contract copyright does not vest automatically, transfers require individual agreements, Polish law forbids contracting for all future works of a given type, and an absent contract leaves the company dependent on the creator's will and open to dispute; a seventh United States patent granted in June 2026 for configuring a communication widget directly on a website; and 25 750 000 shares of 0,02 złoty each, one vote per share and none privileged, with a shareholders' consortium holding 10 625 752 shares or 41,27% of votes and two Polish pension funds above 5%) — FY2025/26 · publ. June 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026