End-User License Agreements.

[Kraeg]

I wasn't sure where to post this question, but thought this might be the most appropriate forum.

Recently, I've started creating database frontends in VB5, rather than Access (the data is still in Access mdb format).
I've been writing an EULA, to protect myself and outline what the company (that I am writing the software for) can do with the software.
All I've done, so far (it's still all in development stage), is copy the EULA for MS Windows 2000 and changed it where appropriate (such as "Microsoft" to my name). Also, my license isn't as strict (for example, the company I have written it for can install as many copies on client machines as they want/need to).

What online resources are available for advice regarding EULAs (specifically for Australia, although this company does have US and New Zealand sites)?

Where could I find a lawyer knowledgeable in this area?

 

[sleipnir214]

Do what Microsoft did...

Catch a pack of weasles. Send them to law school. ______________________________________________________________________
TANSTAAFL!

 

[sleipnir214]

Now that I have the facetious answer out of my system, here's a real answer.

If you contracted to the company to produce the software, then you may not be able to enforce any licensing rights because the company already owns the code. They paid you to produce it, they get all rights to it.

The only thing enforceable is a contract which specifies how bugfixes, support, etc, are handled.

Find a lawyer who specializes in contract law. If he does not fully understand software licensing issues, get him to recommend someone who does. ______________________________________________________________________
TANSTAAFL!

 

[petermeachem]

company already owns the code

I don't think so, not in the uk anyway. The contract would be to provide a programme, not always the source code. I certainly don't handover the source code with a programme and have in fact sold someone a programme, then sold them the source code, and then sold them a modified version of the programme. US company it was. Peter Meachem
peter @ accuflight.com

 

[garwain]

Unless there is a clear contract saying that the company contracting you will own the source code, all they are buying is the software itself. If you are employed to write the software, then they own the code by default, but by contracting, they are usually only asking for the software itself.

I know a couple guys who are making quite a good living off one piece of specialized software they wrote. After the first copy was written and the contract was finished, they started going to other companies in the industry and showing demos of the program and modifing it as need be. Last I knew, they received a second payment of the value of the original contract from the original client for the updated software with the changes that other companies had sugested.

I would definatly suggest talking to a contract lawyer, because if you don't have a solid contract for this type of game, you can really get in trouble. Everyone needs to know (or at least have the info in the EULA they never read) stating exactaly who owns what.

 

[CajunCenturion]

In the USA, the courts have ruled that unless contractually stated otherwise, the entity which paid for the development owns the code. In much the same way that a publisher owns the rights to a book, not the author.

Bottom line in the USA is, he who paid for it, owns it, unless those rights are relinquished via contract. Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[CajunCenturion]

If you write some code while at work, you don't own it, the company owns it.

That's why, if you read EULA's carefully, you'll generally see that the customer is not buying the code, but is only buying the right to use the code. Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein