Open Source Code In a Closed Source Company

An anonymous reader writes "I have code that I've written for my current company that I'd like to open-source. The only problem is that my company has the usual clause that says that anything I write belongs to them. Now that they've decided to abandon my code for another product that replaces its function, I'd like to continue working on my project as well as open it up to the world. The easy part is cleaning it up and posting it on SourceForge and Freshmeat. The hard part is making sure that I am free of any legal complications in the future. I've looked online to try to find a legal document I could present to my employer to get them to sign off on it, but I'm not having any luck. Has anyone else been in this boat or can refer me to some legal documentation that may help out?"

Comments

Just walk into the CEO's office:

[smittyoneeach]

"Mr. Ballmer, I'd like to release some code for the new MS Office under the GPL.
It's some of the UI code that people might really enjoy being able to, you know, work with a little better."
No doubt you will chairish the moment.

Re:Just walk into the CEO's office:

[homey of my owney]

What a load of horse shit. You write this as a lawyer, and post as an AC. Because you have no real idea that this is in fact legal. You think in your perfect world that it should be.
Risk your on finances, thanks.
My advice is to write up something like "You don't feel there is value in this, I'd like to post it and work on it on my own time." Present it to your boss. You and they will feel good about your honesty and straightforwardness.

Why must people...

[ohtani]

start off their sentences in the subject on this site?

Re:There's an example accompanying the GPL

[STrinity]

Ty Coon, President of Vice"

That's racist.

Re:And you came to /. with this problem?

[Neoncow]

So is it safe to say that lawyers are like XML?...

Re:you answered your own question....

[FuzzyDaddy]

at your next job interview, ask the owner if he posts as Harmonious Botch on slashdot.

Admitting to reading slashdot in a job interview isn't probably a smart move in any event...

Didn't you guys take English in HS?

[Bobb Sledd]

I bet you guys actually did real work in HS English class. Did you not learn how to properly plagiarize?

10 PRINT "Hello world."
20 END

*** BECOMES ***

13 REM \\\This code originally created by ME!
16 MESSAGE_PART_ONE$ = "HELLO"
17 MESSAGE_PART_TWO$ = "WORLD"
21 MESSAGE_CONCAT$ = LCASE$(MESSAGE_PART_ONE$) + " " + LCASE$(MESSAGE_PART_TWO$) + "."
25 MID$(MESSAGE_CONCAT$,1,1) = UCASE$(MID$(MESSAGE_CONCAT$,1,1)
28 OPEN "TXT.OUT" FOR OUTPUT AS #1
31 PRINT #1, MESSAGE_CONCAT$
33 CLOSE #1
36 SHELL "TYPE TXT.OUT"
39 GOTO 500
500 END

Guess what you open source. Let someone else make it efficient again, and it becomes original code and if it happens to look identical to what you had at the company, you have version differences to back up that you came up with it on your own.

It's a very BASIC skill, really. :-)

See, in copyright law, it is perfectly fine for two people to have a copyright on exactly the same text, so long as they came up with it independently.

Now a patent is another ball of wax...

Re:Nothing Happens? You silly person!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, but I must have misread. For a second I thought you said there was no reason to think of managers as anything but people.