Clash of the GPL and Other IP Agreements?

Daimaou asks: "A situation I'm involved in at work has raised some questions regarding the GPL vs. IP agreements. When I started working for my employer several years ago I signed an IP agreement that states anything I think while working for them is theirs, as well as anything I've ever thought in the past if it enters their building; dumb, but I needed a job." To make a long story short: Daimaou wrote some code derived from GPLed sources. Now his company wants to take control over what he's written. IP agreements aside, this sounds like a GPL violation since the company's IP can't override IP already established by the original GPLed code. Daimaou also says the company is trying to patent at least some of the code. Is there anything Daimaou, or anyone else for that matter, can do to get the company to cut short their plans and play fair with IP that obviously doesn't belong entirely to them? "About a year and a half ago, I brought in some source code that I had worked on prior to working here; after receiving verbal OKs that the code would remain mine.

My code was derived from code I got from IBM's Developer Works website and also ActiveState's website; all of which was released under the GPL. I made a lot of additions to the software of my own, but the parts from the above sources were integral pieces and without them, my code wouldn't work.

Now, my employer is trying to lay claim to this software and has filed at least one patent on it that I know of. They have also distributed it but refuse to make the source public. They claim that because of my IP agreement, they have full rights to this source code.

I would like to hear what other readers think and perhaps get some suggested courses of action from people who are smarter with regards to law and the GPL than I am."

Comments

Move

[odyrithm]

"Is there anything Daimaou, or anyone else for that matter, can do to get the company to cut short their plans and play fair with IP that obviously doesn't belong entirely to them?"

Move to Europe before it's to late!

Re:hmm

[ZephyrXero]

It won't be "anonymous" now that he's got it posted on Slashdot with his username listed...lol. Hope you're looking for a new job already, and from the sound of it...you don't need to work for scum bags like that anyway.

verbal vs. written

[shark72]

"after receiving verbal OKs that the code would remain mine"

My comment won't be very helpful to the situation, but here goes:

If I understand it correctly, he signed a contract with an inventions clause when he started work at the company, but after he was hired, he was told verbally that the inventions clause would not apply to a particular project.

If I were in this position, I would put the onus on the person who made the verbal promise. Their response might be one of a few things:

1. If they state "yes, I did make that promise to you" then I would reply with "Great! Would you mind following me like a baby duck to the office of our head counsel, and repeating what you just said?"
2. If they claim never to have said that -- in other words, if they're lying -- then I would sneak in to the office late at night, install porn on their computer, and then tip off MIS. No, just kidding. But if I had a supervisor or co-worker who saw fit to lie to my face, I would have bigger issues with my job than the ownership of some code.

Re:That's not how the law works

[corporatemutantninja]

I wrote a contract with my buddy that says full rights to the music on any of his CDs I rip automatically transfer to me. That overrides the label's ownership, right?

Anyone want some free music? I'll just give it all to Creative Commons now.

Re:Is this guy in trouble then?

[CdBee]

No, in order to save space the shrink-fit plastic sheet is transported inside a quantum singularity which is extruded to order by a massively-parallel badger array

Re:hmm

[shotfeel]

How many people in his company do you think modified some code gotten from IBM?

I keep picturing individual programmers in companies all over the country being "called into the office" today to be interrogated about their post to /.

Re:Turnabout

[DavidTC]

Well, maybe if you can find them, you can ask them personally, instead of just randomly trolling.