[Mimedefang] Off Topic

[alan premselaar]

On 1/24/04 10:20 AM, "Benjamin Schmaus" <schmaustech at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Question for all:
> ?
> I wrote a web based front end to MIMEDefang and
> Spamassassin.? I did most of the core development in
> my spare time after work.? The remainder of my time
> was spent implementing it at a service for the company
> I worked for.? Now I have left the company and they
> say they own the rights to that code.
> ?
> Doesn't the GPL from MIMEDefang and Spamassassin apply
> to the code I created, thus it would also be open
> source?? Or does my employer own the code?
> ?
> If they do own the code, how can I rework the concept
> so I can release a new version of the code as open
> source?
> ?
> Any help or direction would be appreciated.
> ?
> ?
Benjamin,

  I suggest you first contact a lawyer, just to be on the safe side.
It's been awhile since I've heard anything about intellectual property laws,
but here's what i believe to be true. Assuming you live in the US.

I'm not sure what the criteria is, but my understanding is:

  if your primary job function includes programming, any code you write on
your employer's time, they have first claim to. the reason for this is
because they are paying your for your time, and if you're using that time to
write code, they are technically paying for it, and thus have claim to the
code.

  if you wrote the code/program specifically for the use of your employer,
and the agreement with your employer was that you would do so, then they
have first claim to that code. if the agreement is on an entire
product/project, then they may also have first claim to code you contributed
to the product/project even on your own time.

  otherwise any code written on your own time, they have no claim to.  but
that means that you'll have to re-write the code that you wrote on their
time with significant differences to prove that it was re-written if
necessary.

with regards to the GPL or Perl Artistic Licenses, I'm not really sure how
that fits into all of this, and that's why you should consult a lawyer.  It
seems to me that, although you may choose to release your code under either
of these licenses, your employer may have the right to withhold code that
they have legal intellectual property rights to from being released under
these public licenses. (since technically, your code isn't released yet)

obviously your employer will have to adhere to the GPL or PAL with regards
to any code that wasn't written for them but integrates into the final
"product".

in hind-sight, these intellectual property laws may only be valid in
california as a subset of the california labor laws, so you definitely want
to speak to someone who knows the laws in your area more specifically.

hope this helps,

alan