On 2017-07-28 19:49, Richmond Mathewson via use-livecode wrote:
It turns out that teachers who make software at home, in their own
time, do NOT own the copyright to their work if they are under
contract to schools
unless this has been explicitly "sorted out" in advance . . .
a situation that, frankly, stinks, especially as this is NOT during a
period of time for which you are being paid for by your employer.
This does sound familiar - it is probably worth everyone checking the
fine detail of their contracts in this regard.
I honestly can't remember if (things done at home are your employers
too) that is a presumption of contract/IP law (i.e. doesn't require
explicit wording in a contract); or whether it is something which has to
be explicitly enumerated.
The issue here is actually one of IP and knowledge-in-environment. Let's
say you have a programmer which is working for a company which is doing
really bleeding-edge stuff X. The only reason that programmer knows
anything about X is because he is working for that company. Programmer
goes home, and starts working on stuff in their own time using the
knowledge they have about X (or have learnt about X due to exposure).
The company has to protect itself - and in this case, the company would
be seen to own the copyright on what the programmer has done (as far as
I understand it).
The reason is simple. The programmer is using knowledge and ideas at
home which he did not develop himself - he is using the IP of the
company of which he is part of to do them. He does not own that IP, so
he does not own any derived works of that IP (regardless of where / when
/ how he derived said works).
Upshot - best not to do work on things at home which are using anything
which requires knowledge and ideas you would only been exposed to whilst
at work, unless you don't mind it being owned by the company you work
for because it probably will be from the point of any court presiding
over a case in that fashion, should it come up.
Warmest Regards,
Mark.
--
Mark Waddingham ~ m...@livecode.com ~ http://www.livecode.com/
LiveCode: Everyone can create apps
_______________________________________________
use-livecode mailing list
use-livecode@lists.runrev.com
Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription
preferences:
http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-livecode
