[aklug] Re: Question: open source and the workplace

On Wed, 30 Jul 2008, Christopher Howard wrote:

> Hello. I was wondering about something...
> I'm something of a beginning programmer -- mostly Perl and C++ so far.
> I'm also a big fan of open-source. I despise software patents and would
> prefer (in a perfect, ideal world) that every thing that I ever coded
> was open-source.
>
> I applied for this entry-level programming job recently. Its mainly
> database/web programming and software testing, for an educational
> institution. However, the job posting didn't say anything about licensing.
>
> What I was wondering is, in a real world environment, how do those
> licensing issues work? That is, when a programmer comes onto a job
> site, does the employer automatically have the final say in all matters
> of licensing? I suppose that, if one is building on a proprietary
> package, than the new code is proprietary. But say that your boss asks
> you to design a new web-site or processing script. Does the license to
> the code automatically belong to him, or just the implementation of it?
>
> I was hoping that someone on this list had experience with the issue, or
> had read something about it.

The typical stance is that anything you do for a company belongs to them,
you have no say in the matter. Others go even further and say that anything
you write while employed by them (even after hours) belongs to them.

I make it point at every company I've worked for to have an addendum added
to the IP agreement that as an open source developer anything I do on my own
time, or anything that I adapt from existing open source projects for use at
work stays mine. Not all companies will agree to that, but some will.

         --Arthur Corliss
           Live Free or Die
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Received on Wed Jul 30 11:43:45 2008