Re: Ownership of work?

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David,

In a message dated 12/13/01 10:03:51 PM Eastern Standard Time,
david@midrange.com writes:


> Who owns the work?
>
> Obviously, if programming is done on an employers time, using employers
> resources (hardware, office space, software, etc), they own the code

Quite.

> However ... what if a programmer does work on his own time, using his own
> resources (say, an account on Netshare400) ... but it's code ... does the
> employer have any claim on the resultant code?

Famous midrange.com statement -- it depends.

> A friend of mine is encountering this type of situation ... he was
> presented with a new employment contract that states "Any software
> developed while employed by xyz corp is the sole property of xyz corp" (or
> something to that effect).

Bull, uh, hockey.  Unfortunately, should your friend deign to sign this
agreement (a _STUPID_ move, IMO), he might be constrained based upon local
law.  For example, I signed a _ridiculous_ noncompete agreement some years
back without giving it much consideration, thinking that I would never
compete.  When the company I worked for started to go under, I tried to quit.
 Said company tried to blackmail me with the noncompete agreement.
Fortunately for me, North Carolina is a "right to work" state.  When I showed
the employer "Chapter X, Subsection Y, paragraph Z" of the North Carolina
employment code regarding noncompete agreements in which "the employee is
almost invariably found in favor" the employer reduced their demands to a two
week notice.  They deserved less given the situation, but hiring an attorney
at that point would have been more expensive than providing the undeserved
income to the employer.

>


Tell your friend _NOT_ to sign this agreement.  If possible, he should build
a coalition with his coworkers so that _NONE_ of them sign it.  My saving
grace in the given example was finally convincing my "Pollyanna" coworkers to
join with me in rejecting our company's blackmail.  Strength in numbers.
Granted, it is not a good time to be looking for a job in the IT industry.
Would it be better to have your ideas stripped from you by an employer that
doesn't deserve the fruits of your passion yet seeks to profit from them?

JMHO,

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"The greatest pleasure in the world is doing what others say you cannot do."
-- Walter Bagehot