Yes, this if very off topic and should probably be left to lawyers and
kings, philosophers and statesmen, but since it was asked...
I realize this is going to be an oversimplification as an answer to the
question, but I have always taken a simple approach.
If you are a salaried employee...nothing is yours and that's what you tell
them.
If you are a contractor...nothing is yours and that's what you tell them.
When you leave, take it all with you.
You can learn from it, teach about it, improve it, use it in your next job,
site, or contract, never leave it the same exact way as when you took it
with you....and most importantly...
Isn't it likely that 100's if not 1000's out of millions of developers have
already done what you have or something so similar that you would think your
looking at the same pieces of code. Let's face it...we can be very proud of
the work we do, even show it off and scream at the top of the moutain that
we have done a great work or programming art (and I think we all have at
some point)....but someone else has or will have thought of it too. I take
solace in this, then, when I take my code home at the end of the day and
know I might reuse that snippet or a hunk of code here, hunk of code there.
Hell, if its a good technique or trick, I usually share it on the web before
anyone really owns it.
By the way, to the three rules above, I always add the following since it
changes everything:
If you are or run your own business, ignore the above and pay attention and
use the laws to your advantage to protect yourself.
I think the important things are not the little ones that the developers
care about but the overall site being mimicked elsewhere for profit that
would clearly undermine the original sites owners intentions for making
money. We can hang onto that little cool tag we created because we will
either forget about it, someone else already has one similar, or we will
improve upon it and use it elsewhere...these things to not infringe upon the
rights and intent of a sites production and future development or earnings,
in my opinion.
Reality Check: Would your boss even know if you reused a technique or a code
snippet elsewhere anyway? They don't know that you created a cool
navigation toolset to get that "thingy" working...nor do they probably
care...they just want the work done.
Anyway, that's my 3 cents on the subject (inflation and tricky subject has
elevated the worth...but only slightly).
Mike Craig
-----Original Message-----
From: Janty.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 2:03 AM
To: Fusebox
Subject: Re: [OT] OwnerShip of Source Code
Comments in line :
--- snip ---
Certain specially commissioned or ordered works by ICs are considered to be
works for hire to which the hiring firm automatically owns all copyright
rights. However, both you and the IC must both sign an written agreement
stating that the work is made for hire. Again, this should be included in
the IC agreement.
These works include:
� a contribution to a collective work -- for example, a work created
by more than one author, such as a newspaper, magazine, anthology or
encyclopedia
So .. what if you add on to their web site? Say you come up with this great
new, one-of-a-kind application that no one has ever made before. Say it can
be a stand alone app., or you can use it in many other projects, but was
made as a component for their site. In that case, do they own it and you
can't ever use it again without permission?
� a part of an audiovisual work -- for example, a motion picture
screenplay
Does Flash count as an "AudioVisual work"? Say you are doing a lot with
Flash these days ... do Flash components (like FigLeaf's Flash calendar)
fall into this category? Does this mean that if you develop a really cool
CF/Flash module in the process of doing something for them, that they have
the exclusive rights to that module?
� a translation
� supplementary works -- for example, forewords, afterwords,
supplemental pictorial illustrations, maps, chats, editorial notes,
bibliographies, appendixes and indexes
� a compilation -- for example, an electronic database
Isn't this the whole point of CF? What if you, again, in the process of
doing this work for them, come up with some great new way of doing things?
Do they get the rights to your way of doing things, or just the rights to
the speciffic code you used for their stuff? What if they are the same?
Are you allowed to reuse that same code on another project? Where is the
line drawn and where's the distiction .. and most importantly, who makes it?
� an instructional text
� a test
� answer material for a test, and
� an atlas.
I see a lot of grey area here. Best to consider all of this in the
contract.
Todd
----- Original Message -----
From: "paul smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Fusebox" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2001 1:04 AM
Subject: Re: [OT] OwnerShip of Source Code
> www.nolo.com has the following about Independent Contractors (IC):
>
> What about intellectual property ownership?
>
> When you hire an IC to create a work of authorship such as a computer
> program, written work, artwork, musical work, photographs or multimedia
> work, you need to be concerned with copyright ownership.
>
> The copyright laws contain a major trap for the unwary -- they say that
> unless the work an IC creates falls into one of nine categories, the
hiring
> firm will not own the copyright to the IC's work unless it obtains a
> written assignment of copyright ownership. An assignment is simply a
> transfer of copyright ownership. It should be obtained before an IC starts
> work. This assignment should be included in the IC agreement.
>
> Certain specially commissioned or ordered works by ICs are considered to
be
> works for hire to which the hiring firm automatically owns all copyright
> rights. However, both you and the IC must both sign an written agreement
> stating that the work is made for hire. Again, this should be included in
> the IC agreement.
> These works include:
>
> � a contribution to a collective work -- for example, a work created
> by more than one author, such as a newspaper, magazine, anthology or
> encyclopedia
> � a part of an audiovisual work -- for example, a motion picture
> screenplay
> � a translation
> � supplementary works -- for example, forewords, afterwords,
> supplemental pictorial illustrations, maps, chats, editorial notes,
> bibliographies, appendixes and indexes
> � a compilation -- for example, an electronic database
> � an instructional text
> � a test
> � answer material for a test, and
> � an atlas.
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