[plug] Intellectual Property (was Re: [plug] PHP)

[Mike from West Australia]

At 09:25 PM 2/8/2000 +0800, you wrote:
>At 05:00 3/08/00, Mike from West Australia wrote:
>> >>The person who writes the code owns the code irrespective of who paid
>> >>for it.
>>
>>The exception is employees (not under contract)...
>
>An exception but not the only one.  There have been incidents where the 
>originator of the work owns the rights.

I would have thought (and observed) that was the common circumstance, or
did not miss out the word "doesn't" ?

rgds

Mike

>There was a legal dispute a few years ago involving a client that hired a 
>photographer (under contract) to do some work for them.  There was no 
>mention of who owned the copyright in the contract.  The photographer 
>believed he did.  The court found otherwise.

I seem to recall that depends what was photographed, if the subject
of the photo was 'owned' or under some assignment then the photographer
wouldn't automatically own copyright unless there is some factor
peculiar to the photography process or aspect of the guys work etc.

If its a photo of something in the public domain then copyright is
automatically with the photgrapher - unless its a copyrightable document
thats been photo'ed etc.

>If in doubt consult your chosen legal professional.

Australian Copyright law is fairly precise as a starting point, but by all
means check precedent.

>As my PA regularly reminds me, intellectual property laws are 
>complicated.  Who owns what often comes down to who has the bigger wallet.

Sad but true to some degree, the 'tricknology'; however is find an angle
that covers the copyright/trade secret issue and use a pro-active means
to 'seat-belt' your software development so copyright is never an issue,

;-)



Kind Regards


Mike Massen

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