So, this is largely for Rick, but I figured everyone might be kind of interested:
How does the intellectual property for what you do at work operate? If you type up a program, who has the copyright to the program? To the code? Do you have a contract with your employer agreeing that everything you produce is the property of the company? Just curious.
Posted by John at July 23, 2003 07:08 PMI won't try to speak for Rick, but usually if you produce something on company time using company resources, they own it. I'm not sure if something like that is included in standard employment contracts, but I'm almost positive that's the way it works.
Posted by: Mike at July 23, 2003 10:24 PMYeah, Mike got it. If you create something on company time, or even use company resources, the company owns it. I've heard cases where a guy would write software on his work computer after hours (so he wasn't getting paid for it), but then when he went to release it, the company claimed ownership. Even schools do this from time to time.
I would also like to point out that my cubemate, Kristen, helped look up an answer, but she was too chicken to post a reply.
Posted by: Rick at July 24, 2003 10:25 AMThe code that I write for work is proprietary for the companies I work for. I can share things like strategies for writing code, but the actual code (and the data) is restricted.
Posted by: Roy at July 24, 2003 09:42 PM