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Owning Your Own IP at a Company?

Posted by Cliff on from the wouldn't-you-love-to-see-this-at-your-place-of-work dept.

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?"

5 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Get a lawyer by ari_j · · Score: 1, Redundant

    If neither one of you knows how to write contracts, hire someone who does. It will be worth the price later on when the shit hits the fan. And it will, don't fool yourself.

  2. Re:IANAL by croddy · · Score: 0, Redundant

    whoever modded this redundant is an idiot. this is THE answer to the question. get yourself an attorney -- this won't take 2 hours to draw up. if you can't find a few hundred dollars for an attorney to assist with the contract, you should probably ask yourself if your code is worth owning.

  3. Re:IANALYES!!!!!!!! by Karma_fucker_sucker · · Score: 0, Redundant
    whoever modded this redundant is an idiot. this is THE answer to the question. get yourself an attorney -- this won't take 2 h

    YES!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! GET A LAWYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    --
    Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
  4. Re:IANAL by thc69 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Er...every preceding post says to get a lawyer. That makes it redundant, no matter how correct it is.

    --
    Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
  5. YES! by Karma_fucker_sucker · · Score: 0, Redundant
    I AGREE!

    --
    Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III