Ownership of Code/Books
The question of who has the best legal claim of a program was raised.
The program in question was written on an employee's own time. The concept
was similar in nature to a program my employer had recently discarded as
worthless. When the CEO heard the project was being developed outside the
company he demanded to see it. After seeing it he said he would be
interested in it but only after the program's useful life was exceeded.
The employees in question said other companies were interested and they were
considering marketing it to other companies. The CEO then threatened their
jobs and claimed he had
a stronger legal claim to the program than they did?
Employment at the company is at will, and no contract has been signed giving
creation rights either way.
The current situation was resolved with a company wide email from the
employees appologizing for their "transgressions." And the CEO replied to
this email saying how sad the hole these misguided employees had dug was. He
closed stating that the company owns any programs developed (even on
personal time) that "compete" with the company belong to the company. (Note:
Compete wasn't defined and the situation is too hot to ask for a
definition.)
My questions are:
1. Is the CEO's claim legit?
2. How far does the claim extend?
3. Just today I heard that if I were to write a book (own my own time)
related to projects I've worked on, the company owns that as well. Is this
true?
--
~~~
C'Ya,
mrfelis
mrfelis@yahoo.NOSPAM.com
just remove the spam
[1694 byte] By [
mrfelis] at [2007-11-9 17:53:30]
# 1 Re: Ownership of Code/Books
> 1. Is the CEO's claim legit?
As the project seems to be based on something that was first created within
the company, he could probably win with regards to that product. I have
worked at places in the past were it is stated in the contract that
everything that you develop in company time using company tools belongs to
the company, but I don't know for sure the legal situation if it is not
explicitly stated in your contract. Best talk to a lawyer!
> 3. Just today I heard that if I were to write a book (own my own time)
related to projects I've worked on, the company owns that as well. Is this
true?
Because you are talking about company details, I would say they probably
have the right to block you. I was invited to speak at a conference a few
years back, and I was told in no uncertain terms by my manager that I was
not in any way to mention projects that I was working on.
Martin Colloby
# 2 Re: Ownership of Code/Books
I'm not a lawyer so my opinion doesn't matter much, but I'd say that you have
three things in your favor:
1. The program was not written on company time, or using company property.
2. The CEO of the company discarded the concept as being worthless, so at
the time, the company didn't have any intention of using the idea.
3. There isn't any written, signed non-competition or confidentiality agreement
in place.
I'm surprised that the company doesn't make employees sign some sort of non-compete
agreement. Every place that I've worked at made me sign something that said
I couldn't compete with the company for a certain period of time after leaving
the company. Typically it also included clauses giving ownership of any
work done on company time or using company property to the company, and so
forth. The fact that your company didn't make you sign something like that
seems like a BIG oversight on their part.
As far as writing a book about work that you did goes, I'm guessing it would
depend on what the subject of the book is, and what type of signed agreement
you have in place with the company. I wouldn't go publishing all of your
company's source code in a book. However, if you were to write a generic
book about, say, Web development, I don't think the company would have a
claim on that (but again I'm not a lawyer so don't be taking my word on it).
Some more enlightened companies actually encourage their employees to publish
as long as they don't give away trade secrets, since it is a feather in the
cap to have an "expert" on the payroll. However, it sounds like your CEO
is not an enlightened executive.
As a practical manner, even if you are legal in the clear, your employer
might terminate your employment in retaliation since it is employment-at-will.
Of course, if the product that you've developed is really that good, you
won't need that job anyways.
Again, if you really want to get an "official" answer, I'd contact a lawyer.
"mrfelis" <mrfelis@yahoo.NOSPAM.com> wrote:
>The question of who has the best legal claim of a program was raised.
>
>The program in question was written on an employee's own time. The concept
>was similar in nature to a program my employer had recently discarded as
>worthless.
>
>Employment at the company is at will, and no contract has been signed giving
>creation rights either way.
>
>
>My questions are:
>
>1. Is the CEO's claim legit?
>2. How far does the claim extend?
>3. Just today I heard that if I were to write a book (own my own time)
>related to projects I've worked on, the company owns that as well. Is this
>true?
>
>
