> > The title to the software may be in question. The issue is what your > contract with your employer says, and whether you used any of his > resources (computer, network access etc) to develop the software. > If your contract says so, he owns what ever you did at work. If you > used his resources, he may have an interest. >
I didn't write it for my employer; I wrote it for a grade, in a class, that I paid for out of my own pocket, for which I will not be reimbursed by my employer, taken at a state university, for purposes of advancing my own education and perhaps career, which my employer did not request, and is only vaguely aware of. It just so happens that I was employed by my employer at the same time I wrote the software, and they are interested in it now. I don't normally write C code for my employer, although I have in the past, but certainly not to level required for an e-commerce package. What I have written for my employer was less than 20 lines of extremely simple code and took 10 minutes at work on the clock. However, the e-commerce package is well in excess of 1500 lines of rather intricate code, took in the neighborhood of 50 hours to write, and I did it on my own time at home. I have looked through the employee manual, and I did not find anything that states that anything I produce is theirs. I have worked for other companies that required I sign a contract or waiver or something stating that everything I did was theirs. This is not the case for my current employer. I think it would be a crime to consider it my employers property. Further, I have been advised that even though I wrote it at home on my own time, that since I am a salaried employee, and I may run into problems. It has been expressed that if they have any evidence to suggest that I might have written any part of it while at work, that they may have a claim to it. I don't recall working on it while at work, but that is not to say that I didn't. I think that it would be extremely difficult to prove anyway. Thanks for all the great info! Brooks
