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Topic:
Intellectual Property
[Locked] |
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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Intellectual Property has often been established with employment contracts stating that productive ideas, processes, technologies, etc you come up with are the property and for sole use of your employer. Courts have upheld these contracts as valid because this is in consideration for employment (even though these contracts are more often than not not part of the offer letter or job description, but rather part of orientation or some HR procedure). Now, however, many of these contracts are being applied to vendors by proxy, through parent contracts between companies.
As there are a lot of techies and devs here, my curiosity is: What do you think is your intellectual property and, as a matter of course, do you know/think you are under IP implications?
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Steelwind_Oo
Title: Lurking Oo
Posts: 1,789
Registered: 2000-9-30 10:26:30
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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It is situational for me. When I am working for a client designing something it is his dime, his requirements and ultimately his product. If I am working for a client doing general IT and I see a need and fill it with something from my collection of bits and pieces then they have every right to continue to use it but it is mine. This all changes if there is a contract, of course. Once paper is signed I stick to the letter of it.
Current client is a good example they went all legal on me last year about everything I do belongs to them. I'm fine with that and already considered most of my dev work their property but it did change how I operate with them. I also manage all their IT in two physical locations with tons of remoters/telecommuters. In the past I would yank out a script, tweak it, then install it on a server to solve an administrative issue I ran into. It would take all of half an hour total. Now though I design a new script from scratch then all the subsequent testing and deployment phases and it takes much longer. This is because I want no problems down the road if they go all legal-fu on me and try to do a hostile severance of relationship. If it happens, not that I expect it, I will know exactly what is theirs and what is mine and there will be a clear line between them.
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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I work for a defense company, so I think that pretty much answers your question. 
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"Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we
enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them." FDR
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Anebriated
Title: I should be reading a book
Posts: 650
Registered: 2003-1-27 21:26:11
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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i had to sign one of those just to volunteer in a research lab! at least any idea I had would go to science instead of some shareholder's piggy bank.
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Jezza_Belle
Title: =^.^=
Posts: 2,771
Registered: 2001-2-24 02:29:30
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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ryu_masamune posted:
Intellectual Property has often been established with employment contracts stating that productive ideas, processes, technologies, etc you come up with are the property and for sole use of your employer. Courts have upheld these contracts as valid because this is in consideration for employment (even though these contracts are more often than not not part of the offer letter or job description, but rather part of orientation or some HR procedure). Now, however, many of these contracts are being applied to vendors by proxy, through parent contracts between companies.
As there are a lot of techies and devs here, my curiosity is: What do you think is your intellectual property and, as a matter of course, do you know/think you are under IP implications?
I can tell you, I know a lot of devs doing stuff on their own time that are keeping their mouths shut about what they're doing, because companies are latching onto the stuff they are developing at home.
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Steelwind_Oo
Title: Lurking Oo
Posts: 1,789
Registered: 2000-9-30 10:26:30
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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Jezza_Belle posted:
ryu_masamune posted:
Intellectual Property has often been established with employment contracts stating that productive ideas, processes, technologies, etc you come up with are the property and for sole use of your employer. Courts have upheld these contracts as valid because this is in consideration for employment (even though these contracts are more often than not not part of the offer letter or job description, but rather part of orientation or some HR procedure). Now, however, many of these contracts are being applied to vendors by proxy, through parent contracts between companies.
As there are a lot of techies and devs here, my curiosity is: What do you think is your intellectual property and, as a matter of course, do you know/think you are under IP implications?
I can tell you, I know a lot of devs doing stuff on their own time that are keeping their mouths shut about what they're doing, because companies are latching onto the stuff they are developing at home.
That is a whole different beast entirely. I would never sign anything that said everything I did while contracted to them was theirs. I have too many things going at once. Any agreement I make is specifically regarding work done for the client.
-----signature-----
'God is an imaginary friend for grownups.', Walter Crewes (Morgan Freeman), The Big Bounce
Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions they're easier to handle than dumb mistakes!
Xbox 360 Gamer Tag: SteelwindOo
e93% a53% s33% k13%
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Jezza_Belle
Title: =^.^=
Posts: 2,771
Registered: 2001-2-24 02:29:30
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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Steelwind_Oo posted:
Jezza_Belle posted:
ryu_masamune posted:
Intellectual Property has often been established with employment contracts stating that productive ideas, processes, technologies, etc you come up with are the property and for sole use of your employer. Courts have upheld these contracts as valid because this is in consideration for employment (even though these contracts are more often than not not part of the offer letter or job description, but rather part of orientation or some HR procedure). Now, however, many of these contracts are being applied to vendors by proxy, through parent contracts between companies.
As there are a lot of techies and devs here, my curiosity is: What do you think is your intellectual property and, as a matter of course, do you know/think you are under IP implications?
I can tell you, I know a lot of devs doing stuff on their own time that are keeping their mouths shut about what they're doing, because companies are latching onto the stuff they are developing at home.
That is a whole different beast entirely. I would never sign anything that said everything I did while contracted to them was theirs. I have too many things going at once. Any agreement I make is specifically regarding work done for the client.
I'm speaking of salaried workers.
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( - Y - ) These ones are not real, just FYI.
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Rhodoman
Posts: 1,397
Registered: 2001-6-14 21:02:19
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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Steelwind_Oo posted:
It is situational for me. When I am working for a client designing something it is his dime, his requirements and ultimately his product. If I am working for a client doing general IT and I see a need and fill it with something from my collection of bits and pieces then they have every right to continue to use it but it is mine. This all changes if there is a contract, of course. Once paper is signed I stick to the letter of it.
Current client is a good example they went all legal on me last year about everything I do belongs to them. I'm fine with that and already considered most of my dev work their property but it did change how I operate with them. I also manage all their IT in two physical locations with tons of remoters/telecommuters. In the past I would yank out a script, tweak it, then install it on a server to solve an administrative issue I ran into. It would take all of half an hour total. Now though I design a new script from scratch then all the subsequent testing and deployment phases and it takes much longer. This is because I want no problems down the road if they go all legal-fu on me and try to do a hostile severance of relationship. If it happens, not that I expect it, I will know exactly what is theirs and what is mine and there will be a clear line between them.
Arguing with them about this is most-likely futile and only going to get them pissed off at you about it.
It is, however, a nice way to justify increasing your rates. 
Rho
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-Accident-
Title: Waiting to happen
Posts: 660
Registered: 2000-8-24 09:49:04
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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I am not sure what our policies are. I'd assume that whatever you do on work time and/or using Institute resources belongs to the Institute, but since we're non-profit/academic, people release stuff as open source all the time from here and it seems to be ok so long as they're not divulging human subject data or compromising the security of other sensitive data. Actually, the next big project I'm starting next month will go open-source around October or so...so my work will be available for anyone to look at, for posterity. 
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Steelwind_Oo
Title: Lurking Oo
Posts: 1,789
Registered: 2000-9-30 10:26:30
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Date Posted:
1/1/00 12:00am
Subject:
Intellectual Property
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Jezza_Belle posted:
Steelwind_Oo posted:
Jezza_Belle posted:
I can tell you, I know a lot of devs doing stuff on their own time that are keeping their mouths shut about what they're doing, because companies are latching onto the stuff they are developing at home.
That is a whole different beast entirely. I would never sign anything that said everything I did while contracted to them was theirs. I have too many things going at once. Any agreement I make is specifically regarding work done for the client.
I'm speaking of salaried workers.
Oh I understand that. I would never agree to it. One of the reasons I have been self employed so long I guess. I could never put up with so much of the crap that is involved with corporate employment.
It was funny (not really funny "ha ha" but funny) that when they decided they wanted contracts they went all crazy with the thick legal mumbo jumbo written by their out of state hack and I spent over a month consulting with my lawyer and picking it apart before I would sign it. The whole time they are like "What does it matter? Nothing will change just sign it.". Sorry but a legal document, specially as poorly prepared and damning as the one they prepared, is not something I sign without a thorough review, heh. Specially having seen other clients/owners chuck longtime employees under the bus just so they could save some money on payroll or insurance or whatever. It is one thing to make claims in a "he said, she said" situation and fight it out in court it is a whole different thing when there are contracts involved.
-----signature-----
'God is an imaginary friend for grownups.', Walter Crewes (Morgan Freeman), The Big Bounce
Don't be afraid to ask dumb questions they're easier to handle than dumb mistakes!
Xbox 360 Gamer Tag: SteelwindOo
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