Slashdot Mirror
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?"
Print the code you want to release, pedantic I know, but legal folks like paper. Draft a simple document that says the attached code is going to be released under XXX license (whatever you can agree on with them) and that the company agrees to the action and that any derivation/modification to the released code is copyright the respective author going forward (your choice of license probably will take care of this for you).
Affix the license, the document, and the code. Have a legal officer of the company sign the document, initial all the pages of code and the license in front of a notory, and have the notory do their thing and seal it.
Should work for any trivial amount of code. As was joked about in another post, I doubt you'd want to try this with Ballmer and the Office code base, but if you think your company will let you get by with it in the first place, its probably enough. The key thing is that you've got their sig and its notorized properly so you can't be sued later for releasing their IP into the public spotlight without permission cause lets face it, once the code is out there, they aren't going to put it back in the bottle, they at best will sue you for releasing it.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Sorry dude, you're out of luck. The code is still theirs. Their ownership of it is not predicated on whether or not they actually decide to use it.
You can always ask them if they'll give it to you. I've done this successfully. If they really have no interest in it, they might be willing to discard it.
We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
Who modded this flamebait? Its the reality of the situation, its not 'his code' it is 'the companies code' if he wrote it under what would be considered time they paid him for. If he did it completely off work resources and outside the scope of work, its another story, but it was obviously written with knowledge of a work requirement since they were using it, that implies work resources were put in on it even if its nothing more than 'my company needs this' because he had inside knowledge. If you don't like these terms, don't sign the employment contract or negotiate the right to do your own work outside the company under your own license. Thats what I did. The only catch is that my company has the right to use any code I develop while I work for them (but outside of work) for their own products, including modifications. Which works entirely fine by me as it means my CVS repository is backed up on servers at my office as well, the versions stay in sync because I make sure that any changes that need to be made to my code get done in my free time and imported back into the repository at work. We both benefit. They get free code, I get to work on things without fear of being hassled about it later. I must admit though, the owner of the company I work for treats his employees as if they are his own children, so this is probably not your typical setup at but its been that way at the 4 small companies I've worked for.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Perhaps its a new reader trying to get involved with the community (and perhaps asked several places to try and get the most eyes)? It is true that these things have been discussed liked crazy on /., but largely only in terms of lawyers and copyright laws. I don't recall anyone recently posting how to interact with their bosses on the matter. I'm sure there needs to be some level of documentation, but what does that consist of exactly? You'd want to make sure its documented so that if it is open-sourced and becomes popular, no one can come back and say "I didn't authorize this! It's all ours!". But what sort of documentation? Was it a long process, or was it as easy as getting someone to sign one paper saying "Program X is hereby released under the GNU GPL -- signed, The Big Guy, Some Company" and so took all of 30 seconds? Someone here may have dealt with it and can offer some advice that may be more reasonable that someone on the GPL forums, whom only knows what the license says but has never actually bargained with a boss or CEO to get something released.
And if nothing else, its polite to give help when you can. Responses such as yours are a big reason people don't like to learn about Linux or technology in general; whenever they attempt to get involved and learn, they just get yelled at for being newbies and told to go elsewhere. The open source community may have lost a genius member just now because you decided to be a jerk and therefore put off the asker from even wanting to write open source software anymore.
Just remember this next time you have a question about anything (which is inevitable). I don't want to hear it when you're stuck with no answer because everyone yelled "Get lost! You should know the answer."
You must be an American... what is *with* you people always reaching for the lawyer every time some little conflict with another person comes up. Stop being a pussy and fight your own battles.
All he has to do is ask his employer if he can have the code. Get the agreement in writing, yes. Hire a lawyer? What the fuck? If I was his employer and he hired a lawyer, I'd fire him.. and don't say I couldn't, I'd find a reason.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I'm a lawyer who has to deal with many IT/IP issues on a weekly if not daily basis. This is exactly the wrong place to ask for or have legal advice rendered, and what I say below is NOT to be construed as legal advice either.
As stated earlier, and in other posts, you have essentially answered your own question. The answer depends on how persuasive you are. Management is not going to allow even antiquated code out to pasture in this manner if you cannot rationalize a business (ie: MONEY) reason that they should permit it. Without knowing your industry, product or application I have little to go on, but management in my company (including myself) would rather play it safe & not cannibalize their market by permitting the world access to something they paid for.
Finally: If you don't get the answer you like, don't contravene management. You will pay for it in some fashion.
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."