[plug] Intellectual Property

[Leon Brooks]

Bret Busby wrote:
> alan howard wrote:
>> On Wed, 02 Aug 2000, skribe wrote:
>>> At 19:31 2/08/00, Alex Polglaze wrote:
>>>> The person who writes the code owns the code
>>>> irrespective of who paid for it.

>>> My patent attorney begs to differ =).

>> on this subject, if i creat[e], devolop and design
>> som[e]thing that[']s related to my work during my own
>> time do I or my employer own the rights to what I've
>> created. (even if I didnt get paid for it). I rem[em]ber
>> reading some where that my employer does , unless its
>> totally unrelated to work. is this correct ?

> Correct.

Sorry, Alex is right, the MBA book is lying. It's been tested in
practice and the author owns the software, regardless of whether it was
written at home or at work. If this worries your employer, sign (and
date) a document saying that you resign all rights to the software in
favour of the employer (or, grant unlimited rights of use and,
modification, copying and distribution to the employer). The document
must nominate *specific* items of software, a general disclaimer is not
much use in court.

> It is a matter of duty of fidelity, from what I understand.

Fidelity is all very well, but if the employer pays you to write
software, he is paying you for the *writing*, NOT the *software*. You
have exercised your fidelity by doing the writing. If he wants the
software as well, you must sign it over to him.

> This, I believe, on the basis of a text that is used as the
> textbook in an MBA unit

You can't believe everything you read, Brett. For example, you may
choose to not believe this email.

> Disclaimer:
> The above, is stated as my opinion, based on my experience,
> and, advice of others, and, in reading materials on the
> issues of Duty of Fidelity and Intellectual Property. I am
> not a qualified lawyer, nor, a qualified practitioner in
> the area of law known as Intellectual Property, nor do I
> purport to be either of these. I do not purport the above
> references to the status of the law to be absolute truths,
> but instead, to be my understanding, of applicable rights
> and obligations. I assume no responsibility for any person
> acting on this information, and any person taking any
> actions, based on the above information, so does at their
> own risk.

Uh, "This entire email may be a work of fiction, but I do not guarantee
that." Look, I saved about 500 bytes (from certain death, no doubt)!

--
If at first you don't succeed, try a shorter bungee!