Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpcilzb!tedj
From: tedj@hpcilzb.HP.COM (Ted Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Work for Hire contracts
Message-ID: <730058@hpcilzb.HP.COM>
Date: 15 Aug 88 16:41:03 GMT
References: <25638@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: HP Design Tech Center - Santa Clara, CA
Lines: 44


Point #1:

>Hold out for at least as good terms as the lawyers
>who write the contracts we are expected to sign!

Unfortunately, I don't think that it is that easy, because
lawyers have an effective "union", software people don't.
	
So software people end up taking more shit.  
(I *hate* unions though!)



Point #2:

>Many contract programmers now work on a "Work for
>Hire" basis, The definition of "Work for Hire" means
>that all writings produced within the scope of our
>employment are owned by our employers. "Work for
>
>[stuff deleted]
>
>knowledge that comprise our respective fields. Both
>sell complete documents to companies, contracts in
>one case, programs in the other. Both build their
>personal experience, embodied in the components that
>make up the complete works. Only the lawyer retains
>the right to use those components in future works.

Can contract-programmer-hiring companies really make this
stick?  Lets say I work for company A and write a calendar
program.  I leave them all the source, and promise never to
sell it to anyone else.  Then I work for company B and write
a calendar program.  If anyone gives me flak over their similiar
"look and feel", I could say that I started over from scratch,
but that since I only have the one brain, I did it the same way
the second time!

Lets get serious though.  How far can they take this?  If I write
an abs(x) function for one company, does that mean that I can't
ever ever use this piece of code again????!!!!

-Ted