Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.programmer:2064 comp.software-eng:750 Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!ucbvax!dewey.soe.berkeley.edu!oster From: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (David Phillip Oster) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.software-eng Subject: Work for Hire contracts Message-ID: <25638@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Date: 15 Aug 88 02:11:08 GMT References: <496@hudson.acc.virginia.edu> <25636@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP (David Phillip Oster) Organization: School of Education, UC-Berkeley Lines: 74 An Open Letter to Contract Programmers. 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 Hire" is completely unfair. Think twice before you sign any "work for hire" contract, and better yet, refuse to sign. Contracts of this sort steal from us the very professional competence that made us attractive to our employers in the first place. In addition, there is a class of contract employees who habitually produce works for companies, and who are never requested to sign such onerous contracts: the very lawyers who write our contracts. One test I use for the power of a software tool is the Recursion Test: would this tool have been useful in the creation of itself? Examples: It is easier to write a C compiler in C than in assembly language. It is easier to write a parser generator if you already have a parser generator to express the input language. In each case, the tool is worth writing because it offers leverage in at least one task. Now let's look at a "work for hire" contract. Let's apply the Recursion Test to it. A lawyer made a contract with the company to produce that document. That lawyer certainly didn't accept a work for hire agreement: it would have prevented him from selling similar contracts to any other firm. Why should you accept worse terms than the author of the contract? A lawyer and a programmer are both highly trained professionals, well acquainted with the body of 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. Why? Because we have not stood up for fair and equal treatment. Sign contracts that let firms buy our complete products, but retain your ownership of the pieces. Hold out for at least as good terms as the lawyers who write the contracts we are expected to sign! --- David Phillip Oster Arpa: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu Uucp: {uwvax,decvax,ihnp4}!ucbvax!oster%dewey.soe.berkeley.edu