Intellectual Property 1

[k4ghg]

Hi - Over 20 years ago I create an application for a local government agency. I work directly for them and through the years have rewritten the application in different computer languages. The compiled version is accessable to the public for donlading.

Recently the agency outsourced the rewrite of the program to .NET. The .NET version is a hack/reverse engineering of my code, which is fine because as a government employee, I think my code should be in the public domain. My question is with the rewrite, they took my name completely out of the program. Even the documentation that had been plagiarized, does not give me any create for my creation and years of work. Does anyone one know if I have any Intellectual rights to have them acknowledge that the program was my creation?

Thanks... Ronnie

 

[SantaMufasa]

...hope you wont mind if I say Go AGGIEs...

I don't mind your saying that if you don't mind my enjoying the after-glow of last weekend's scores:

[tt]
Brigham Young University Cougars : 59
UCLA Bruins : 0

University of Utah Utes : 58
Utah State University Aggies : 10[/tt]

And, yes, Aggies (and UCLA Bruins) do need a lot more "Go Team..." well wishing. <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[k4ghg]

 

[SimonDavies]

Unfortunately I have to disagree with regards to IP for IT work undertaken when contracted to do that work.

Whats to stop one of the MS or Apple Engineers taking their respective employers to court because they invented a particular bit of code and they now want recognition for it.

You're employed to do work for someone, you use their facilities, their resources and are paid for that work, it belongs to them.

I recently wrote an installation guide for deploying a new Deployment Solution where I work (it's an MS product and I work in a Charity), I spent quite some considerable time doing this work, alot of my own time went into it (ie working from home at night and weekends) but at no point did I expect to actually own the IP of this piece of work.

Since I wrote that document Microsoft themselves have utilised it in conjunction with some work that we hired them to do, in their revised version of this documentation I am not mentioned anywhere in it but they have used my words and screenshots all thru their own documentation (even using my naming convention), am I mad? not really, I am more impressed with the fact that my work was recognised as being upto the level of MS for their own use as well.

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Simon,

"Workers" are hired all the time to collaborate on projects that are the property of others, yet the collaborators are credited (typically) for their contribution (e.g. look at the myriad credits at the end of any movie, and look at the jacket of musical works).

There is no reason that contributors of significant portions of a software property cannot receive collaborative recognition.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[KornGeek]

Santa,

I agree with you completely.

At a (smallish) company where I previously worked, I created a credits screen in our software. It was slightly hidden where nobody was likely to see it, but for those who knew it was there, it was nice to see our names associated with the product. Unfortunately, I was asked to remove this before release because the owner of the company didn't want recruiters to have a list of names.

I felt this was petty and small of him, and I felt the morale boost would have been worth the minor risk.

 

[SantaMufasa]

the owner of the company didn't want recruiters to have a list of names. I felt this was petty and small of him...

...And I totally agree with you, as well, KG. Any recruiter that is worth her/his weight (or anyone else for that matter) can obtain an employee list for a company in virtually no time at all.


The way to prevent recruiters from hiring away employees is to provide a working and compensation environment (including credits for jobs well done) that an employee would be crazy to leave, right?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[Opieo]

@Mufasa delivering presents in a week:

I always thought the only reason they listed everybody who had any tiny thing to do with a movie in the credits was to add on to the movie length timer, and so they would have more time to play more music to include on the soundtrack. =)

~
“Your request is not unlike your lower intestine: stinky, and loaded with danger.” — Ace Ventura.

 

[CajunCenturion]

Let's not forget that the film industry is heavily unionized and the inclusion of all the credits may be part of the union contract. That being said, you could negotiate that including your name in all appropriate programs is part of your employment contract.


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[harebrain]

Let's also not forget that after work passes into the public domain, the original creators usually don't get any credit. Because music has been cited:

[ul][li]Does Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov get credit for "Stranger in Paradise"?[/li]
[li]Does J.S. Bach get credit for "Lovers' Concerto"?[/li][/ul]

This list could go on and on, but the answer is only among trivia buffs or those who know and want to remember the original work.

If we do good work and take pride in it, does it really matter whether users unknown give us "credit" for it?

 

[KornGeek]

If we do good work and take pride in it, does it really matter whether users unknown give us "credit" for it?

For me, it's more like a "thank you". By including your name, they are acknowledging your contribution. In the end, it doesn't make a significant difference, but it's nice to feel appreciated.

 

[vaoldschl]

I don't know about the name thing. At the risk of not only being off color but of raising some ire: isn't that kind of like p***ing territorially?

I agree whole heartedly with the statement about appreciation though and maybe that's the root of the problem here. I mean, I've designed some super cool stuff and been rightfully bowed down to by my supervisors and my customers at hand off and left with a warm glow. I didn't need a plaque to commemorate it because I was appreciated at the time of delivery. I made it, I gave it away, I went on to make something else. Now, perhaps, had I not been acknowledged for my efforts at the time I might in fact want something that associated me with that cool stuff because then maybe, some day some anonymous person would say "Wow, this guy did something really cool". In that way having my name attached gives me appreciation through imagination as it were.

It's like a tile floor I recently put in: I handpicked every tile, I spent hours designing the layout and even more hours laying the tile, grouting and sealing. My wife loved it and praised me to high heaven. I don't need my name on that floor; I just needed my wife to love it. Now we've sold the house and who knows what the next owner will do. Maybe they'll put shag carpet over the top of it. Do I care? Do I wish I had put my initials into it so that someone who appreciated tile could remove the shag carpet later and find them? No, I did it for the appreciation already received and knowledge of a job well done.

 

[MichealC4]

I'll second some of the comments left already. When working in a company of any nature, the work that you do belongs to them. They own the IP. Any patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc. are filed for under the company name, not the programmers'(s) name(s).

Sure, they should have acknowledged that you were the original programmer and documented it all, but this is a case of they own you, not the other way around.

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