Copyright vs Exclusive License?

cdanzig asks: "My company recently hired a development house to do some contract work for us. They did great work, but they are claiming that they now own the copyright on the code and are issuing us a permanent and exclusive license. My bosses are concerned that this will hamper our ability to make changes to the code or prevent us form being able to claim the software as a company asset. What is expected protocol between a client and a development house? What is the long-term difference between owning a copyright and owning an exclusive license? If we paid for the development of the code, is it fair for us to demand ownership?"

Comments

Re:This is an Ask Slashdot FAQ

[Bruce Perens]

That's a really charming line of reasoning. For all the complaining people do about Big Evil Corporate Lawyers, I've never heard one say anything even close to the sleazy cynicism of that comment.

Hm. This is pretty basic material about negotiation, something I'd expect any manager to know, not just a corporate attorney. A while back I had some stockholders in a small business of mine threaten to bring suit. Not because they had a real complaint, but really just to get more stock out of me. It turned out they were playing "who will blink first". My side won. But it taught me that this is not limited to corporate attorneys at all.

Bruce