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

[Tarus Balog]

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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Tarus Balog, OpenNMS Maintainer			Main:		+1 919 545 2553
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