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

[Fred K Ollinger <follinge@sas.upenn.edu>]

> Okay, let us talk about the poor man's patent and copyright.
> You should mail yourself by certified mail a description of that which you
> feel there will be some claim of ownership on.

This is generally a good idea, however, if you have developed it while
under a contract which states that "all your code belong to us", then you
are still at risk.

Plus, once you go to court you lose in terms of time, money, and
reputation, even if you win the case.

Finally, if you are working on an OSS project, this won't work as you will
be constantly releasing new code.

Basically, if you want to work on your own proprietary code or an OSS
project while employed you need to get it in writing that you will only do
so on your own time and that code is your own, only.

Also, watch out for a NDA which could mean that even if you do code on
your own time, it is still they employers especially if you are working on
a similar project to their own.

I'd be a bit miffed is I had an employee work on a hosital database
frontend (example) for me, then the former employee leaves to start his
own hospital database frontend corp.

Fred Ollinger

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