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

[Jason Clifford]

On Thu, 4 Aug 2005, Morris, Simon 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.
> 
> What if I paint beautiful works of art in water colour in my own time?
> Is this now property of my employer? Why is writing code any different?
> 
> What if I don't work in a IT capacity for my employer but I write Open
> Source software.. is this still property of my employer.
> 
> Any examples of this standing up in court?

In the UK the law is such that your employer may rightfully claim 
ownership of copyright to works you produce during the time that the 
employer pays for and during which they have a reasonable expectation to 
have exclusive call upon your talents. The only extension to this is where 
you produce the work using specialist tools owned by the company.

Otherwise work you produce in your own time belongs to you. This is 
certain here.

In the US you have fewer rights and a contract can take them away hence 
over their (in some states) your employer can claim ownership of anything 
and everything you produce while in their employ and, in some 
circumstances, for a period thereafter.

The writer of the article really should bothered to find out the real 
legal situation in this country (the laws of England and Wales and of 
Scotland) before sprouting off nonsense. Perhaps though he is USA based 
and his work merely published here.

Jason
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