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

Re:Just walk into the CEO's office:

[dave_leigh]

Sure, why not? That's exactly what I did. So they typed this up on company letterhead:

"This letter is confirmation that [Company] transfers to you all copyrights and license rights for the Lotus Notes screens and databases you developed for us in 2002. You are free to use or sell the product at your discretion without fees or royalties to [Company]. In other words, you now own the software. We do ask that you destroy our client-specific data." It is signed by the CEO.

See? No fancy legalese necessary... plain English works just fine.

Your reply sounds like you would expect ridicule for such a move, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. The best thing that can happen is you get the code. The worst is that they say no. It takes a heap of cowardice to turn down copyrights for fear of one two-letter word, IMHO.

In my case the sales pitch was simple: "You're not going to use it. But I've invested a lot of effort in this and would like to see that not go to waste. Give me the code and I'll continue to improve it and fix bugs. And in the event that the new system doesn't work out for you, I'll license the improved code back to you royalty-free in exchange for the copyrights you transfer to me now. This mitigates the risks of your conversion. It's the best insurance policy you can have, and it costs you exactly nothing."

Re:you answered your own question....

[Bu11etmagnet]

why not give me permission to open source it? It will make the company look good. Well, I can think of one reason why not. He said the code was supplanted by other code that performs the same function. That seems to imply that the company's new product may one day be in competition with older code that it paid to develop, and that its author continues to work on despite being an employee. Sounds like a tough sell to me! Bringing up this argument against open-sourcing the old code is tantamount to not trusting their new code to be better.
Here's an example of proprietary software released as open source, which benefited the original "owner": URL:http://ceps.sourceforge.net/

You've got it all wrong.

[raehl]

The company needs to retain copyright, but release the code under the GPL, and have their employee continue to work on it until it is so good that the competition has to steal it. Then they wait until their competition has sold their closed-source product with the stolen code into critical application areas of their customers, then sue the competition for copyright infringement.

Much, much cheaper than developing a complete product on your own.

At least, that's what any smart attorney for your company who bills by the hour would tell your company to do.