[TriLUG] Work for Hire (Was: [GoLugTech] legal question)

[Marc M]

The contract I am looking at specifies 'work product' as the whole
thing that I am working for.  IOW the consulting company owns
everything that I do for the customer.  And they are trying to own a
heck of a lot more than that but not if I have anything to do with it!

Actually as a 1099 contractor the arrangement is MUCH better than W-2.
With the W-2 it looks like indentured servitude ad infinitum.  I will
try to post the 'work product' clause if I get time.



Marc


On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 11:14:50 -0500, Tarus Balog <tarus at opennms.org> wrote:
> 
> On Mar 24, 2005, at 9:15 AM, matusiak wrote:
> 
> > This has been one of the coolest threads I've seen in a while.  Great
> > opinions and a lot of good advice!  Just goes to show the breadth of
> > knowledge (beyond the purely technical) bestowed upon the TriLUG
> > community.
> 
> Since a lot of folks on this list consult, I'd like to know if you've
> run up against "work for hire" contracts.
> 
> With each new client I get, I usually have to sign some sort of Master
> Services Agreement. Hidden down around paragraph 11 is always some line
> about how the client will own any code you write for them. I always
> have to point out that since the work we do is based on GPL'd code,
> they can't "own" it in the traditional sense. I am more than happy to
> offer them the copyright, but I usually get blank stares when I do
> that.
> 
> Surprisingly, I am usually able to get the client to drop the
> paragraph. The PITA part is that it adds about a month to the sales
> cycle.
> 
> Anyone else run into this, and if so, how do you deal with it?
> 
> -T
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