I've got to agree with Barry on the first point here. I've been scratching my head in cionfused disbelief over most of this thread. I'm aware of several past cases where employees have lost the ownership, in court, of things they've developed (some that weren't even related to their jobs) while employed by a company. It may suck, but its the law, and thats how it works. Scott, your employer does own the IP to the paddlepop stick plane you designed while you worked there. You, the employee, have to go to extreme lengths to prove that it was not developed during any time paid for by your employer. This is not practical under most circumstances. I would argue that Inco, should they choose to pursue it, would have a very good legal claim on Scotts SynergyFlex framework, unless Scott has some very good wording in his contract that gives joint ownership of IP, where the company owns the IP for the product Scott makes for them and Scott retains IP for tools and frameworks he develops and uses to build these products for the company.
As for Moral Rights, this is all about the right to have your name attached to a piece of work as its author/creator. It cannot be extinguished, sold, given away or negated. It also doesn't give you any stake on the IP rights. They are 2 different things. Please remember, I'm not a lawyer. If you make a financial or legal descision based on my statements, or any statements in this forum, then you only have yourself to blame if it all goes bad. For gods sake, get some real, actual, legal advice. Chad, what you are suggesting that your 'friend' wants to do sounds, to me, to be, in the eyes of the law, theft. Get some legal advice, and then get something in writing from the company that gives you permission to do what you are wanting to do. By the sound of it, they don't sound like they'll care what you do and should give you the rights you need, but if you don't get it sorted out now, while you both have this high opinion of each other, then you run a very high risk that somewhere down the line, that you will be in a whole world of pain and legal misery and there will be nothing you will be able to do to protect yourself from it. Regards Darren Tracey Systems Analyst HR Systems and FastTrack, Web and Integration Services p: + 61 7 3232 4091 (x64091) f: + 61 7 3232 4744 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] l: Lvl 3, 388 Queen St Brisbane QLD 4000 m: Suncorp IPC IT048, GPO Box 1453, Brisbane QLD 4000 > -----Original Message----- > From: Barry Beattie > Sent: Wednesday, 11 May 2005 2:26 PM > To: CFAussie Mailing List > Subject: [cfaussie] RE: OT: IP Ownership > > > 1) > <quote src="Scott Barnes"> > An employer does not retain the rights to all creations you develop > whilest under the employee, unless they specifically allocate you as a > resource to build that said product. > </quote> > > Scott, sorry to disagree with you but I remember a games programmer (in > Melb I think ) about 3 or so years ago that lost his IP of a kick-ass game > he made at home while making games for the company he was employed for. > went ot court and he lost. > > the story goes that he was using ideas, processes, etc that was inspired > by his day job. Any outside work/product had to be approved by his work > and that outside work was in fact owned by his employer. > > It was actually written into his contract as such, as it is for me...(got > a copy of your old contract, Scott? have a close look - you'll be > surprised) > > 2) > <quote src="M@ Bourke"> > I've done contract work before where the contract stated along the > lines of its all owned by them, and when I finish the project I have > to hand them all the source code and delete any copy's I have etc. > </quote> > > I've heard that, for contractors au fait with "enlightened" contract > conditions, the product belongs to the "owner" (employer) while the > developed code libraries the contractor can take away with him when the > project is finished. > > anyone confirm that this is common? > > my 2c > barry.b > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to cfaussie as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Aussie Macromedia Developers: http://lists.daemon.com.au/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail is sent by Suncorp-Metway Limited ABN 66 010 831 722 or one of its related entities "Suncorp". Suncorp may be contacted at Level 18, 36 Wickham Terrace, Brisbane or on 13 11 55 or at suncorp.com.au. The content of this e-mail is the view of the sender or stated author and does not necessarily reflect the view of Suncorp. The content, including attachments, is a confidential communication between Suncorp and the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, interference with, disclosure or copying of this e-mail, including attachments, is unauthorised and expressly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please contact the sender immediately and delete the e-mail and any attachments from your system. If this e-mail constitutes a commercial message of a type that you no longer wish to receive please reply to this e-mail by typing Unsubscribe in the subject line. --- You are currently subscribed to cfaussie as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Aussie Macromedia Developers: http://lists.daemon.com.au/
