Re: [PLUG] intellectual property, code, employment laws, etc

[Bill Patterson <patterson@computer.org>]

I am not a lawyer (IANAL), so everything here should be read with this in
mind.

Generally when you are an independent contractor, what you do belongs to you
but your client has an implied license to use it forever.  If you SIGNED a
contract with your client, THE CONTRACT RULES and you may be creating what is
called a "work for hire" which means that your client owns the work as though
you were an employee and the client an employer.  If you are an employee,
that means the employer owns the work, period, unless you have some other
contract.  Again, I am not a lawyer.

Generally employers whose business is IP (intellectual property, not internet
protocol) such as pharmaceutical manufacturers, publishers, or software
companies will have extremely agressive employment agreements through which
they seem to acquire the right to your mind forever.  Other employers such as
insurance companies, governments, etc. don't care so much.  Some, such as
universities, may even allow you to retain some rights to what you do
there.   Again, I am not a lawyer.

As to your independent contractor status, classification of workers as
employees or independents is a strange nether world in which grown people
indulge in the most outrageous fantacies.   Again, I am not a lawyer.

There are state and federal aspects.  There is the income tax issue.  The
president of Computer Task Group testified to Congress in the 90s that
independent contractors (i.e. his competitors) only wanted to be that way in
order to cheat on their taxes (obviously letting him keep half of their
earnings couldn't have factored into it).  I took strong exception to that in
my written testimony.  There are many reasons to be independent, not the
least of which is not having to work for a lying boss.  Again, I am not a
lawyer.

I am told that Pennsylvania has a law mandating that corporate relationships
are necessarily independent contractor relationships.  Further the IRS is
supposed to respect state law in its procedures.  This would imply that if
you are an employee of your own corporation (are you?) in Pennsylvania, then
your corporation should be an independent contractor to your client.  Again,
I am not a lawyer.

And even if I were a lawyer, at this point I would avise you to consult your
own.  Please email me for a reference.

Bill

Marc Zucchelli wrote:

> I have been working as an independent contractor for a
> company almost full time for a few years now, I am
> just thinking about taking the position as an employee
> and getting on a payroll so I don't have to worry
> about taxes, but I am worried about rights to my code.
>  For example, I have *heard* that anything I write on
> my own time belongs to my employer, etc, things like
> that.  On one end, what if I put together my own
> software product which I want to sell, does profit
> really belong to my employer, on the lower extreme,
> what if I write my own library and decide to use it in
> a project for work, how do I keep that part of the
> code as my own.  ....Just examples, does anyone know
> where I can find more info on this?
>
> Marc
>
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