As noted in other posts, software created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment is owned by the employer, and the employer is deemed the "author" of the code. That's definition (1) of "works made for hire" in the Copyright Act, 17 USC Section 101. So, the programmer needs to work with the company.
The quoted language from the GPL disclaims copyright ownership, and thus may put the code into the public domain. Once there, any one can use the public domain code. The person signing the disclaimer should have authority to do so on behalf of the company. Once in the public domain, the programmer may distribute the public domain code as open source, and of course, so can anyone else as there are no restrictions on public domain code.
Another approach is that the company assigns ownership of the code to the programmer. This would also need to be in writing and signed by an authorized representative of the company to satisfy the Copyright Act's requirements that any transfer of ownership be in writing and signed by the assignor. The programmer may then open source the software, but retain control as the owner and licensor.
A third approach is to convince the company to license the code as open source. The company would then be the licensor.
In any event, the programmer should work with the company's counsel to avoid any miscommunications.
Slashdot Mirror
Hi,
I'm yet another attorney.
As noted in other posts, software created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment is owned by the employer, and the employer is deemed the "author" of the code. That's definition (1) of "works made for hire" in the Copyright Act, 17 USC Section 101. So, the programmer needs to work with the company.
The quoted language from the GPL disclaims copyright ownership, and thus may put the code into the public domain. Once there, any one can use the public domain code. The person signing the disclaimer should have authority to do so on behalf of the company. Once in the public domain, the programmer may distribute the public domain code as open source, and of course, so can anyone else as there are no restrictions on public domain code.
Another approach is that the company assigns ownership of the code to the programmer. This would also need to be in writing and signed by an authorized representative of the company to satisfy the Copyright Act's requirements that any transfer of ownership be in writing and signed by the assignor. The programmer may then open source the software, but retain control as the owner and licensor.
A third approach is to convince the company to license the code as open source. The company would then be the licensor.
In any event, the programmer should work with the company's counsel to avoid any miscommunications.
I hope this helps,
Fred Wilf (speaking for himself)