Ethics... and the lack of it.

[Bruce Robertson]

This is nowhere near as clearcut as you claim.

If you hire somebody as a direct employee, your answer is correct.

If you pay an outside developer to develop the software, even though it may be to your design spec,  the software IP is the property of the developer unless explicitly declared otherwise in the written contract.

IANAL and further explanation is required but this is the general concept, as repeated in many many such discussions.
 

On Nov 30, 2009, at 8:07 PM, Bob Sneidar wrote:

> 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