Ethics... and the lack of it.

[Bob Sneidar]

My opinion (and the opinion of most courts) is that software you produce for someone while in their employ is their property. However, if you produce software and then market it openly, it is your property, and subject to all copyright laws that apply. 

I suppose the question comes down to that. Did you write the software under contract? If so, then I think it is their property and they can do whatever they want with it. But if you wrote it independently, and then marketed it to them then it is yours and any company that tried to replicate your work could be in danger of copyright infringement. 

Bob


On Nov 30, 2009, at 3:37 PM, Alejandro Tejada wrote:

> 
> Participants in this mail list are an outstanding example
> of ethical behavior and responsability. For this reason,
> i want to ask you about this "What-if scenario".
> 
> Suppose that you created for some person, some kind
> of software for his small business. As time passed,
> you add more features and functionality to this software.
> 
> Then this person, started to ask another developers
> (who use other software platforms) about their budgets
> to recreate what you have done for his business,
> with the purpose of declare the value of the software
> (that you create) as the highest budget proposal that
> this person receives...
> 
> Is this another example of creative accounting: 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_accounting
> or is just plain wrong deceipt?
> 
> Did you, personally, have received the request to make
> budgets and later you learn that this person is just
> trying to get an estimated value for something that
> this person already have?
> 
> I do not want to think that some of the stacks that
> i have published, could have been used in this way...
> 
> Thanks in advance for your comments.
> 
> Alejandro
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
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> Sent from the Revolution - User mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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