RE: What are a programmer's rights to what he writes?

[boothm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

W.C.Handy got screwed over for his first hit song.  He learned his lesson. 
 That publisher didn't get anymore of his songs.  Good programmers learn 
who pays them and who hurts them, and the companies that are truly unfair 
end up with mediocre help.

_______________________
Booth Martin
booth@martinvt.com
http://www.MartinVT.com
_______________________




"System Support Products, Inc." <lforlini@sspi-software.com>
Sent by: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
05/26/2000 10:16 PM
Please respond to MIDRANGE-L

 
        To:     MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
        cc: 
        Subject:        RE: What are a programmer's rights to what he writes?

At 3:15 PM -0600 5/26/00, Nathan M. Andelin wrote:
[snip]
>I think copyright law needs to be changed to place a higher value on
>creativity.  I think there should be no distinction between employee and
>independent contractor when it comes to copyrights.  In the absence of an
>agreement to the contrary, the copyright should go to the literal author 
-
>whoever that may be.  This change alone, would release a flood of 
creativity
>unparalleled in recent history.  If someone pays for a work to be 
created,
>they should have rights that are essentially equivalent to those of the
>literal author.
[snip]

Nathan,

    I don't understand the distinction you're making.  When you say 
"If someone pays for a work to be created, they should have rights 
that are essentially equivalent to those of the literal author", 
isn't that what the company is doing (paying for a work to be 
created) simply by virtue of you being an employee?  Or are you 
proposing that the company and the author would have joint ownership? 
There's a can of worms...

    I would think that even if the law was changed so that a program 
author retained all the rights to whatever programs he wrote, the 
inevitable result would be that every company's employment agreement 
would require you to forgo those rights, or no job.

    Regards,

    - Lou Forlini
      Software Engineer
      System Support Products, Inc.

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