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Apple Claims Ownership of Shareware

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the we-takes-it-now-we-does dept.

(54)T-Dub writes "Cricket Media recently released 'Netflix Fanatic', an OSX based shareware app that lets you manage your rental queue without logging on to Netflix. An article on Think Secret reveals the reason behind it's mysterious disappearance. Apparently the developer's employer, Apple, has claimed ownership over the application's name and source code. The developer claims that under Section 2870 of the California Labor Code this is illegal. The law states that if a company has an employment agreement with provisions saying employees must assign the rights of their inventions to their employer, those sections do not apply if the employee developed it on his or her own time, without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information. Within Apple, there's unsubstantiated speculation that Apple wants to include the Netflix Fanatic code in a new version of Sherlock." Also, they're presumably not too worried with employee morale.

8 of 759 comments (clear)

  1. Order Frenzy by jonatanw · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe Steve Jobs order a lot of DVD's online... He needs to streamline the ordering process.

  2. I, For One, by Tsali · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...Am shocked that a corporation would dare do such a thing.

    Now, what's the article about again?

    --
    This space for rent.
  3. Re:Apple, what's your problem? by scovetta · · Score: 4, Funny

    Apple: "We'll give you your old job back if you give us the program"

    Developer: "What do you mean?... oh.."

    --
    Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
  4. Re:Misleading article title by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 3, Funny
    Maybe I'm still not used to the editors deliberately allowing sensational headlines.

    Hang out at ZDNet. You'll get used to it. You'll also get used to headlines that have no scientifically measureable relation to the stories beneath them.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.
  5. And so... by Pedrito · · Score: 3, Funny

    By reading this posting, you implicitly agree that all code you have written in the past, are writing now and in the future belongs to me. I would appreciate it if you just zipped up all your code and sent it along. Thanks.

  6. Re:Shocking... by AKnightCowboy · · Score: 3, Funny
    Knee-jerk-pot-smoking hippies! The whole bunch of you!

    Snotty-overpriced-hardware-buying-nouveau-art-deco -loving-yuppie scumbag. But hey, I can say that since I'm a Mac user too. :-)

  7. Re:Are they psychic? by gnu-generation-one · · Score: 3, Funny

    "It's a win-win situation from the company's viewpoint."

    Until you book 500 hours retrospectively on your timesheet and book it to the budget of whoever claimed the project...

  8. If a worse analogy exists... by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...well, someone had better kill it before it collapses the fragile idea that is this universe into a singularity of nothingness.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.