[Gllug] "Open source has its own problems" - article inComputing

[Paul Rayner]

On 4 Aug 2005, at 16:10, Huw Lynes wrote:

> On Thu, 2005-08-04 at 16:02, Morris, Simon wrote:
>> On Thu, 2005-08-04 at 15:50 +0100, Rob Crowther wrote:
>>
>>> Intellectual Property - he states that all work done when in full 
>>> time
>>> employment, whether at work or at home on personal time, is property
>>> of
>>> the employer, the natural conclusion of this is that most OSS is
>>> actually stolen from people's employers.
>>
>> I've heard about (and boggled at) this concept before... it seems
>> outrageous that things I work on in my own time could be property of 
>> my
>> employer.
>
> I'm pretty sure the law is that stuff you produce during working hours
> (ie when on the employers dime) is the property of the employer. Which
> is why many OSS hackers have OSS exemptions in their contracts.
>
> Hacking on OSS in your spare time does not count.

I have seen (but not signed!) a contract which stated that all work 
produced in one's own time, or that of the company would belong to the 
company as would any work produced in the 3 months after leaving. I 
understand this is common, but am not aware of any legal precedent 
(IANAL).

As I understand it (IANAL) the clause would fall flat on it's face if 
you were a developer and produced a stunning water colour and wanted to 
sell it - the contract would be dismissed as 'unfair terms'. On the 
other hand, if you worked for, say, Microsoft as an Exchange developer, 
but spent your evenings developing postfix you could be in real trouble 
as the employer would have a reasonable suspicion that you are using 
their IPR (even if unintentionally) in your hacking. The basis for 
these clauses is not that companies wish to own all of your creative 
expression whilst you work for them, but wish to protect their trade 
secrets, so if you could show that your paid work and hacking are 
completely unrelated you should be safe. Of course, if you find one of 
these clauses in your contract the safest thing to do would be to just 
check with your employer and get a signed letter allowing you to work 
on whatever OSS project you're currently into.

Regards,

Paul

Paul Rayner
Ylem Solutions Ltd ~ 32-38 Leman St, London. E1 8EW
Office: 020 7173 6241 ~ Mobile: 07739 143 763 ~ 
Paul.Rayner at YlemSolutions.com

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