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From: sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Work for Hire contracts
Message-ID: <559@esquire.UUCP>
Date: 16 Aug 88 16:08:23 GMT
References: <496@hudson.acc.virginia.edu> <25636@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <25638@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <6682@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu>
Reply-To: sbb@esquire.UUCP (Stephen B. Baumgarten)
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Organization: DP&W, New York, NY
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In article <6682@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu> imp@crayview.msi.umn.edu (Chuck Lukaszewski) writes:
>I've been burned and I've had some good experiences in doing contract work.
>I know the legal ramifications.  And I think that it is a very reasonable way
>of doing the work.  Besides, most companies won't hear of not owning the soft-
>ware that the contract out.  What happens when you get hit by a train and you
>are the only posessor of the source code to XYZ company's accounting package?
>No, as the president of a computer-aware company that is unacceptable to me.

There's a difference between owning a software package and having the
source code to it.  We have Pyramid's Unix source, but we sure don't
own it.  We also have the source to a blacklining program a consultant
wrote for us; while he owns it and can sell it to other firms, we
reserve the right to maintain it ourselves should he ever decide to
abandon us as a customer.

Of course, we also have the right to sue him off the face of the Earth,
should that happen (one of the advantages of being a law firm).
Sometimes it's better to be hit by a train...  :-)

-- 
   Steve Baumgarten             | "New York... when civilization falls apart,
   Davis Polk & Wardwell        |  remember, we were way ahead of you."
   {uunet,cmcl2}!esquire!sbb    |                           - David Letterman