Bob Shaver wrote:


>> Your intellectual
>> creations are your own (the cool routine that does a checksum in
three
>> instructions) , but the "wonderful things firmware 2.3" belongs to
the
>> customer.  The IDEA of the cool checksum routine is open for grabs
>though.
>> This is where trade secrets and non-disclosure agreements come into
play.
>
>Not true!  In the USA, work done "for hire" (i.e. as a consultant or
>contractor) belongs to the persons paying for the work unless
explicitly
>stated otherwise in a contract.  If I hire you to write a program for
me, I
>own the code unless we negotiate something else up front.
>
>When our company develops software for someone, we inform them up front
>that if we use any code from previous work (or internally developed)
then
>they will get a non-exclusive license to the version of code we
deliver.
> We also usually negotiate to retain writes to re-use the portion of
>software written specifically for the customer.  Things like
non-disclosure
>agreements make this harder to do, and we usually don't push the point.
>


This is not entirely true. My understanding is as an individual what you
say is true, but if you are an employee of a consulting company (as I
am) then the copyright on your code automatically goes to your company.
As your wrote it and your company is paying you to do that, it is a
"work made for hire" for your company, not the client. Your company can
then provide a exclusive or non-exclusive license for that copyrighted
work to your client, but the client cannot directly own the copyright,
unless they are paying you (as an individual) directly.

Chip Weller