Comments on: Should Developers Manage Copyright Like Photographers Do?

By: Devon

Devon — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 06:58:56 +0000

@Crave Truth: yes, I know it is an option. I know it’s not common. What I’m hoping for is a real downside to the idea, instead of a sarcastic comment about employers being unlikely to go along with that. The real question is would they actually lose anything by doing so? Or would the long term rewards be well worth the shift for everyone.

That is the question I was hoping to have answered here.

By: Crave Truth

Crave Truth — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:45:50 +0000

“The developers sign a contract with their employer stating that the work they produce belongs to them”

This is already an option. Best of luck getting your employer to go along with you on that.

By: Devon

Devon — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:15:14 +0000

I’d say it works that way because that’s how copyright law is written. The whole work-for-hire thing is an exception to the standard copyright situation.

If the developer contractually has to license their code created at the office under a license like the Apache license, and they still have the standard contract language around trade secretes, etc… There is very little need for lawyers being involved beyond updating the contracts with more clear language.

Other than not wanting to hire a photographer under anything other than work-for-hire (a whole other discussion), if we can assume that contract/license issues can be dealt with in a straightforward fashion, do any parties involved lose given my proposal above?

By: Wes Felter

Wes Felter — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:05:33 +0000

Speaking as a programmer, I don’t understand why the photography business works that way. If I hired a wedding photographer, I would expect work-for-hire terms - I don’t care that “it’s always been done this way”.

Allowing developers to own their code within proprietary software companies sounds like full employment for lawyers. If you want to own your code, go work for an open source company (technically the company still holds the copyright, but practically it doesn’t matter).