[dba-SQLServer] International law question

My (perhaps limited) understanding is: 
If the developer is an employee of the company, then the company owns the
code.  If the developer is a contractor, then the default is that the
developer owns the code.

Debbie

-----Original Message-----
From: Francisco Tapia [mailto:fhtapia at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 11:00 AM
To: dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] International law question


I am no US lawyer, but I always thought that it was the property of the 
Company, unless specifically sold as a software package from the contracter.

ie, the case of prepackaged software that requires mods to make it work for 
said Company, the code is then always the property of the contractor. 
otherwise if you are hired to create a sytem for a company and you do not 
have a pre-packaged type product then it is the product of the Company.



On 9/16/05, Arthur Fuller <artful at rogers.com> wrote:
> 
> I am no lawyer, but I do attempt to stay apprised of current developments
> here and in the USA. As I understand the current situation in Canada and 
> in
> the USA, it goes like this:
> Given a contractor and a client, should they sign a contract for software
> development and should the client NOT specify that Client owns the code,
> then copyright and ownership of said code belongs to the Developer. (In
> Canada this is the case; I think it is the case in the USA as well.)
> What is the case in Britain and the ECU? Can anyone on this list provide
> info on this? Assume a case in which Contractor A and Client B enter into 
> an
> agreement, whose clauses do not specify who owns the code. Further assume
> that sometime down the road, Client and Consultant come to loggerheads and
> there are arguments, and Consultant wants now to re-use the code and sell 
> it
> to other clients in the same industry. (Let's say Dentists, just as an
> example.)
> What is the European take on this? Can anyone on this list speak to this?
> TIA,
> Arthur
> P.S.
> I am asking this because my latest writing gig
(www.simple-talk.com<http://www.simple-talk.com>) 
> is
> based in England, so I don't want to come off as a provincial from the
> colonies. :)
> 



-- 
-Francisco
http://pcthis.blogspot.com |PC news with out the jargon!
http://sqlthis.blogspot.com | Tsql and More...
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