[LAD] students and copyright

[Ralf Mardorf]

Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>
> On 08/02/2009 08:14 PM, Ralf Mardorf wrote:
>> Arnold Krille wrote:
>>   
>>> If you didn't sign a contract and work on a project, the 
>>> copyright is still yours
>>>     
>>
>> Are you sure? I guess (and I'm not sure) that if you did some kind of 
>> work, e.g. being a developer for a company, it implies that the employer 
>> will take on the copyright and that you aren't allowed to disclose 
>> know-how, even if there isn't a special contract saying this. If I'm 
>> wrong, this  would give me some thrilling views for my future, because 
>> of my past and especially a friend could benefit from this, because he 
>> did much more for other people than I did.
>>   
>
> Just because you work for a company or contribute code to a company 
> doesn't give them exclusive license to your code.
>
> You have to *explicitly* sign or give that right away.
>
> IIUC, if you don't sign a contract or otherwise agree in writing or 
> verbally that your code is not owned by you or your company then it's 
> yours or your companies to do with as you or your company will.
>
> Caveat is that your use of the code can not infringe on any other 
> rights for any other owners of any code that you have used as part of 
> your code or linked to in a way that makes it a part of your codebase 
> in a legal definition of any licenses that are attributed to code that 
> you have used or linked with.
>
>
> phew.....
>
>
> This is why gpl is so much simpler and loved.

You aren't from Germany?!

I was in another situation, I signed a contract that said, I'll lose 
rights for artworks if I sell it. That's fine. But in addition the 
contract said, any work that I hand in to the company must not be hand 
in to any other company, even if they won't by my artwork.

In Germany we call this "Sittenwidrig" (immoral), such a stipulation is 
null and void. Here I know that it is that way.

On the other hand, if a company pays you a regular salary and the job is 
named "developer", it might include that a copyright will subrogate to 
the employer, even if there isn't any stipulation saying this. Here I'm 
not sure.