Copyrighting your code!?!!??!

[hyperD]

It's also difficult to licence code as I have found. Not just for the legal complexities but the fact that most companies require revenue rather than capital funding for licensing and the companies I deal with are generally revenue constrained.

Also, all code is effectively escrowed, and IPd under NDAs when it's a small supplier like us.

Still, nothing like another lump sum of capital to do the same project over and over again...

Robinson Crusoe suit at Soneva Fushi, here we come...!

[Cowboy Bob]

Is the client aware (as it agreed to that in writing) of what you do? Have you checked if your activity is not against contract? Just because you put the code up with GPL or whatever license and then put into client's code does not mean it is all fine - if your contract states that all work you do belongs to the client (as in copyright, not license), then you materially breached the contract and any court would award client all the money they paid you since you did not do your job.

By default all your work belongs to the client (even if contract did not mention it), only if you have it in writing that client agreed to accepting licensed code it may work out okay.

This is very serious no-joke stuff.

Do you think I'm an idiot? If they don't agree I'm still quids in as I have to re-write all my old code which costs them in my fees.

Besides, since I'm just downloading a jar file from Sourceforge, even if I didn't notify them, where's the difference between downloading someone else's Sourceforge project and my own? They can't take ownership of that, so why would they be able to take ownership of my work?

I'm not talking about cutting and pasting code, I'm talking about linking to libraries - who the original author of those libraries are is irrelevent.

[AtW]

I don't think you are an idiot CB.

If I were you I'd double check contract however and that they have agreed in writing for you to include specific software.

This is a very dangerous area that people in IT dept may not grasp, but just because they say "aye" to you including some code from the side, does not mean it is all okay - it is possible this will blow in your face some time later, it will look especially bad if it was YOU who had the extra code - if you used some 3rd party then it is objective.

[tim123]

why don't you sourceforge / open source it? Then you can just "download" the jar/whatever and include it.

AIUI: The problem with using Open Source code, is the little rule that you are expected to abide by, that says if you use our open source code in your project you're obliged to open source all the other code that you put into your project.

BICBW

tim

[Cowboy Bob]

I don't think you are an idiot CB.

If I were you I'd double check contract however and that they have agreed in writing for you to include specific software.

This is a very dangerous area that people in IT dept may not grasp, but just because they say "aye" to you including some code from the side, does not mean it is all okay - it is possible this will blow in your face some time later, it will look especially bad if it was YOU who had the extra code - if you used some 3rd party then it is objective.

I'm not including code, I'm linking to external open source binary libraries. There is a big difference. They can never say that this code is their IP since the code for those libraries has never been near their source code repository, and nor will it. I also have the time stamps of the code in the SourceForge CVS repository that prove that it existed there first if the client decides to download the source and claim it as theirs.

[Cowboy Bob]

AIUI: The problem with using Open Source code, is the little rule that you are expected to abide by, that says if you use our open source code in your project you're obliged to open source all the other code that you put into your project.

BICBW

tim

No, that's specifically the GPL license. There's nothing that says that open source code has to be under the GPL license. I, for example, use the Apache license for my 3rd party libraries which has no such restriction.

[AtW]

Do you have it in writing that the client agreed for this (yours actually) 3rd party product to be used for the solution they develop, yes or no?

[Cowboy Bob]

Do you have it in writing that the client agreed for this (yours actually) 3rd party product to be used for the solution they develop, yes or no?

No, but neither do I have it in writing that I can use the junit.jar, commons-upload.jar, jxl.jar and numerous other open source libraries that I'm linking to - because I don't need to. As I said, the author of those libraries is irrelevent.

[AtW]

Does your contract state that all the work you do 100% belongs (and this is copyright) to your client, yes or no?

[Cowboy Bob]

Does your contract state that all the work you do 100% belongs (and this is copyright) to your client, yes or no?

No, and I would never sign such a thing. The work I do in my own time, off the client site, is none of their business.