Owning Your Own IP at a Company?

An anonymous reader asks: "I work as Sys Admin for a sporting company, and I'm the only 'Computer Guy' there. Recently I've been doing a lot of work writing code for their webpage and other related areas, and since I was up for contract renewal I raised the question of Intellectual Property. Now, in the contract there is a section which says that computer records/lists and such belong to the company (ie player registrations and other semi-sensitive data), but beyond that my manager was quite happy for me to own the code that I've written. Neither of us is very good with writing contracts, so he said 'Draft a document and get back to me'. Now what sort of stuff should I put in it?" This is a situation many of us may hopefully find ourselves in. For those of you who have been through this before, how did you end up structuring your contacts? Please note, when it comes to contracts, nothing beats seeking professional legal advice. "I want it to express that there is an amicable agreement between us, that I own my code (including miscellany like shell scripts) and that they can keep using my code, in the normal fashion, after I've left the company. Is there anyone else who's in a similar situation? How did you write your contracts?"

Comments

Can't say what I'd put in a contract, but...

[macshune]

This is a really important subject topic, especially given the case of the guy that was sued for an idea in his own and head and lost.

Don't get a lawyer (unless you want to)!

[Stephan Schulz]

In contrast to what everybody else has written, I would not go to a lawyer for such a trivial thing (and yes, I have negotiated contracts about my IP with both my employer and the company that bought a license for it). Just state clearly that the software you write is yours, and that the company gets whatever license they need.

If you need a lawyer for trivial everday stuff like selling (or retaining) your work, you live in a country with a fucked-up legal system. As far as I can tell, most judges are fairly good at interpreting contracts fairly. Moreover, the chance that you will end up in court about this seems pretty miniscule.

Going to a lawyer might be safer. It might also complicate stuff so much that your company does not want to deal with it any more ("He got a lawyer, so now we need to get one, too...").

I Ended Up Owning My Own IP

[DoctorPepper]

I was working for a government contractor, and I wrote two programs for the Naval Aviation Depot in Jacksonville, Florida. Normally the government puts in the contracts that they own all of the source code for the programs, but it wasn't in this contract. Not even implied. Also, the contracting company I worked for refused to take posession of the source code because they didn't operate that way. To make a long story short, I ended up the sole owner of the source code for both applications. I was told this by my company's lawyer, by the way.

Normally, when you work for a company, you sign a form that states any software you create for the company becomes the property of said company. Make sure you read the contract and even get legal advice before assuming you own it.