software rights

[SpicyMeatball]

What is the name of your state? Ontario, Canada

JUST KIDDING!!! I live in NY, USA.

Anyway,

Here is what I need 'free advice' on. I have been working for a company for about 2 years now developing software for the said company. I think the company is fantastic, and it has helped me pay my bills after college for which I am grateful.

My job is this: The companys president basically comes to me, tells me what he loosely wants done, and I figure out how to do it and then write the software. I am on salary, and have never signed any contracts. I am the only employee who does the software development.

I am planning on relocating to Florida, so pretty soon I will be informing the company of my decision. I am pretty sure I have no rights to the software I wrote, but on the flip side I would be a fool not to look into it. Even if I was entitled to something I probably wouldnt seek it anyway because I am going to need a recommendation, but I do not want to be ignorant of my situation.

Thanks in advance.
Spicy

 

[JETX]

Assuming that this 'product' was developed on company paid time, and very likely on company owned equipment, the answer is.... you do not have an ownership claim (assuming that was what you were asking).

 

[SpicyMeatball]

thanks

Thanks!!

 

[hexeliebe]

JetX is right

I just wanted you to be well aware of another issue in the IT industry these last (tough) years. If you ever took work home, as I and many others do from time to time, make sure you destroy any copies on your home machine.

As a software developer you have undoubtedly used code others have written, reused old code and even invented some new code along the way. And there's nothing your ex-employer can do about your brain and the ability to adapt your ideas in the future.

But the actual code you used to produce the software, any notes, documentation and/or meetings notes belong to the company.

 

[SpicyMeatball]

interesting

Wow its interestign that you stress the fact that I delete all the work. In fact, I burned everything and took it home just to have because I dont ever want to have to re-invent the wheel. If it took me a week to figure out a javascript that will open a new window I dont want to have to ever figure it out again.

 

[atozcom]

If you are ever mad with the emplyer....

If your work is so complicated, make sure that no other programmer could ever understand by reading your code. You make sure to remove all comments in the porgram that absolutely no other programmer can ever understand it except you.

Keep the original code changed to unfunctional, but uncomplied. So if someone ever recompile the code, you got a non-function run time executible code! "compile" cound mean "upload" here.

Rename all variable to some thing rediculous so no one will ever figure out what is exactly going on. Something like:

If Jerry > John then
Jack = Jason
end if

You are now in a good position to negotiate for a job of "Remote Consultant".

 

[hexeliebe]

And you also just committed a theft of intellectual property. ANY code, no matter how disguised, is work-product and belongs to the employer.

You have to make your own decisions. But I have been designing and developing applications since 1992 and have never used the same piece of code for two different employers. Yes, it takes a lot longer to get the job done, but then I have my pride.

 

[atozcom]

"...and have never used the same piece of code for two different employers.,.."

Yeah, sure not the exact same piece of code because an exact piece of code most likely would not work at all else where. You really cannot be doing a straight "cut or copy and paste". But use pretty much the same code is what I would believe. You may have change the varialbe name here and there. A different "hook" to connect the pieces, but pretty much the same code.

Let's say you need a routine for "bubble sort", you are not going to design a new "bubble sort" for each new employer for sure. Are you going to use a routine that has worked before and make changes? Copy and change is what I would believe. Not from scratch every time!

I don't want my programmer employees re-inventing the wheel each and everytime he need a round rotating object!

 

[hexeliebe]

a bubble sort is a mathematical equation based code that cannot be copyrighted. However, how that code is used can be.

No, I'm not talking about throwing away the code to open a new window, display a new DIV or any generic routine that can be found in other places.

However, if the poster takes his code for design for example, changes a few names and then presents this as his work, he is in the wrong.

The point here is to be on the safe side and unless it's a generic routine and not code developed for the employer, get rid of it.

As an example, I developed the Solutions Marketplace for Palm.com where developers could sell their mobile applications. Part of the routine was to select which category they belonged to. Once that category was selected the table cell went from Watermark to visible. That is a routine I developed using DHTML behaviors that were available online for free.

However, how I used the routine was work-product and because of that the only part of the 'code' I could reuse was the DHTML routine, not the cause - effect of the code or the layout.

As for employees not reinventing the wheel, I would personally never work for someone who asked me to bring code developed for a past employee with me...and in the last 12 years (even through the so-called downturn) I have never had to go without work.

Remember, as an IT employee there are dozens of people out there who are better than you (an me). That's not a judgement, it's a fact. The ONLY thing we have to sell is integrity. But that's a call you have to make for yourself.

 

[SpicyMeatball]

Code quality

The question of how my code looks after I leave is quite a canundrum. I would never purposely leave my code a mess, mainly because I do not want to waste the past 2 years of my life by throwing away my references and recomendation to future employers. (no matter how much I may dislike the employer) However, sometimes my employer has given me tasks that in order to complete in the tiem I was given I did was not able to properly leave comments in my code. I just hope whoever replaces me doesn't start blaming things on my 'sloppy' work.

Thanks for the advice,
Spicy

 

[LawGurl]

If i was you, i would encrypt the work you do, so that if you ever need it again you can just un-encrypt it. Then the person to take over from you wouldn't know what method of encryption you have used. If you ever get a call up you could just make up it was for security purposes or something.

 

[hexeliebe]

That's an easy way for you to end up in court. Encrypting code, for any reason, without leaving the public key, is akin to theft of work product.

I hope you don't follow this advice. If you do you'll be compromising any integrity you may have and I won't wonder why you should never work in the field again.

 

[LawGurl]

hexeliebe, if you encrypt the work, keep a copy of the encrypted work after you leave BUT de-crypted the work before you left. is this in vialation as well? if it is it would be hard to prove wouldn't it?

 

[hexeliebe]

Well LawGurl there's a difference between proof and integrity. If you've seen any of my other posts you'd know I am a semi-retired consultant who has worked for NSA, VISA, PALM, Real Networks and Sun Microsystems, among others and guess what? I never have had to look for work. They all called me based on recommendations from old employers.

Why? Because I did what I said I could do and did it the way I was asked.

The poster can do anything he wants, including disguising the code in such a way that no one would know what it is. That's not legal since what he has produced is work product and he owns nothing.

What I am trying to instill in him is not how to circumvent the law, but how to bank on his integrity above all else. Because after 12 years in this business in the U.S. and Europe I have realized there are 10 people around every corner who are better than I am at what I do. But I continue to work because I won't sacrafice integrity or quality.

 

[LawGurl]

ohh ok hexeliebe, i understand what your trying to get across, basically honesty and hard work will get you further then taking the short cuts.

As i was un aware that encrypting code under those circumstances was illegal i was just curious about what if it was still encrypted but on your home pc. But thanks for making me aware of that, it might have saved me some problems in the future