Who owns the code I write?

Question

I was originally hired at the company that I currently work at in a SysAdmin\ Software Support Role. My responsibilities eventually morphed into me spending most of my time writing small applications for the company's internal use and for some customers, (although none of this was put in writing). My question is do I retain any rights to the code I wrote? I am working and my company is entirely in the U.S.

Answer 1

If you're paid to manufacture goods, who do these goods belong to?

Answer 2

Are they paying you to write code?

If so, then they will own the rights to the code, but, I am not a lawyer, but that is my basic theory.

They are paying you to do some work, so it is their work.

Answer 3

If you do some work while being paid, it belongs to the person who paid you, even if that wasn't part of the original employment agreement.

Answer 4

Depends on the company and your contract with them.

Most software development firms own all the software you write (saves them from copyright/patent issues after you leave).

Answer 5

Do you have a contract, conditions of employment etc? Many employers have clauses that they own everything you write, even stuff done in your own time.

Answer 6

The Work for hire - Law of the United States could be relevent to your situation.

Answer 7

You are the author of the code but the company is the owner of it because it paid you to code it.

Answer 8

Ask a lawyer.

For legal questions, always ask a lawyer.

For medical questions, always ask a doctor.

If you ask anyone else, you'll get a laymans opinion, which might not hold up in court, which is what you should be worried about.

In other words, your question should be "If I take one of these programs and use/distribute it myself, outside of this company, or even use code from one of those programs, can they sue me?".

Answer 9

To some extent this depends on the country you are located in, and any explicit contract you have entered into. Any implicit rights (such as a contractor, where work falls into your special area of expertise) are usually dificult to challenge and win in a court of law.

As with all legal matters, seek expert advice.

Answer 10

While this is not answering the immediate question, I think you should consider this:

If you can write it once, you can write it again.

Answer 11

While it's easy to look at this a purely legal issue, it's actually more of an ethical issue. Your employer is paying you to do a job, and your job is to write software. They own the software, whether they have anything in writing or not. After all, they also "own" the responsibility of maintaining and supporting that software for themselves and their clients, whether you're around or not.

However, the point is probably highly moot. Developers often think that their code somehow has tremendous value that can be realized by taking it and selling it on the open market. In reality, most custom software is highly specialized and thus utterly valueless to anyone but the client using it.

Answer 12

Generally it is implied that the company owns everything you create. If you are having issues, I agree that you should contact a lawyer and/or have something put in writing with the company.

Answer 13

As other have said, it is common in the US to have the conditions of employment spelled out in an employment agreement. This contract typically specifies the ownership of the employee's work, and it is almost always the property of the employer. Often companies claim ownership of work done outside work hours with non-company resources. Depending on a person's circumstance, the employer may agree to strike that particular claim from the agreement before the employee signs it.

As others have also said, for legal matters, only the opinion of a lawyer actually matters.

Finally, here is an article on the website of a lawyer, that specifically uses software written by an employee as an example of Work For Hire, owned by the employer.

Answer 14

Yea pretty much anything you write for them, anything you write while "on the clock", and anything you write using equipment the company owns, even if on your own time, is usually considered property of the company. So if you're using a company laptop and/or software to write your own stuff on your own time, in most cases they can claim ownership of that work as well. Keep your work stuff and your private stuff separate. And never re-use code you wrote for work in your personal work. Always re-write it from scratch. If you re-use anything you wrote for work, they can either claim ownership or sue you for infringment. Either way you're gonna lose.

Answer 15

Standard disclaimers/advice:

1. I am not a lawyer.
2. Any legal advice you receive here is worth what you paid for it.
3. Contact a real lawyer, preferably one who specializes in intellectual property rights.

That said, in the absence of a contract, U.S. copyright law says that the copyrights to an employee's work product belongs to the employer. If there's a contract, then the copyrights belong to whomever the contract states.

Patents and trademarks are the other two kinds of intellectual property. If you think those apply to the work you've done, you should contact a lawyer to figure out who owns what.