

Can company give IP rights away for application I wrote off hours to a startup? - libria
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/162002/can-my-company-give-ip-rights-away-for-an-application-i-wrote-off-hours-to-anoth

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tzs
Assuming this is taking place in the US, and under the given facts, no.

For the company to own the IP, it would have to be a work for hire as defined
in 17 USC 101. That requires that it be made by an employee withing the scope
of his employment.

The author was an unpaid intern. Interns that are employees MUST be paid at
least minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so we may infer that
the relationship in this case is not an employee relationship. Without an
enployee relationship, no work for hire. (Specially commissioned works can be
work for hire without an employee relationship, but only for specific kinds of
works which are not applicable).

The request is even more questionable in this case because it doesn't sound
like it is the COMPANY asking for the code. A director wants to give the code
to his brother who has a start up in the same industry.

Personally, I'd report the company to the Department of Labor for possibly
illegal internships, and I'd report that director to the other directors or
owners who might not be aware that he's trying to use code their intern
developed to help his brother's startup.

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ChuckMcM
Short answer, hire an Intellectual Property Lawyer. Laws are different state
to state, country to country.

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zio99
Make it open source under BSD.

That's what I did when I was in your situation. This way, 1) You don't burn
any bridges, 2) You're recognized for your work and 3) If you get other
contributors to your project, your software will end up coming out on top.

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zio99
Oddly enough, the company ended up hiring manual labour that took 4 people and
2 weeks to do something my application did on a coffee break. Reason being -
that project was assigned to another department. I guess what I'm trying to
say is - not to worry, things work out for the best, and karma always comes
back around.

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sambolling
Please stop

