On Wednesday, March 04, 1998 3:36 PM, William Chops Westfield
[SMTP:billw@CISCO.COM] wrote:
>     2) Some companies insist on exclusive rights, and we charge them
>        more for this privilege.
>
> What happens to library and "reusable" code when the customer demands
> exclusive rights?  Presumably pre-existing libraries and code aren't
> covered.  What about brand new code developed as part of the project?
 (Say
> you need to write serial-dataflash routines for the first time.)  What
> about code developed based on internal information from the company? (ie
> code for read a non-standard GPS receiver or somesuch.)
>
> BillW
>

3rd party libraries are exempt, as should be any pre-existing in-house
libraries (be safe and put this in the contract).  However, in my
experience, the customer expects to own all code that was written
specifically for this project.  This includes flash download, GPS protocol,
etc.  On the other hand, you can always state up front that you wish to
retain the rights to any "general purpose" routines, such as generic
protocol handlers.

Again, the best case is to negotiate these items up front.  If you discover
mid-project that you will be writing this type of code, try to renegotiate
the contract.  Remember, it (almost) never hurts to ask.