Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 23:40:28 +0100 From: Anthony Atkielski <atkielski.anthony@wanadoo.fr> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Please don't change Beastie to another crap logo such as NetBSD!!! Message-ID: <1165530279.20050211234028@wanadoo.fr> In-Reply-To: <7E82FCE7-7C7B-11D9-B134-000D933E3CEC@shire.net> References: <p06200708be315f521112@[128.113.24.47]> <LOBBIFDAGNMAMLGJJCKNCEFLFAAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> <649200329.20050211081852@wanadoo.fr> <621dabed4fc2996ae4cb3a2929d6842c@chrononomicon.com> <D73008E2-7C71-11D9-B134-000D933E3CEC@shire.net> <420D24EE.40606@tvog.net> <566767782.20050211231303@wanadoo.fr> <7E82FCE7-7C7B-11D9-B134-000D933E3CEC@shire.net>
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Chad Leigh -- Shire.Net LLC writes: > Their employers are paying them TO WORK on FreeBSD. They are not taking > their code that they write for their employers and also sticking it in > FreeBSD. Big difference. Not if their work consists of writing code. In that case, the copyright in the code belongs to their employer (in the U.S., and in a number of other countries with similar provisions). Under 17 USC 101: "A 'work made for hire' is— (1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or (2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be considered a work made for hire. [...]" Note that a "collective work" is generally a book or a movie, not a computer operating system: "A 'collective work' is a work, such as a periodical issue, anthology, or encyclopedia, in which a number of contributions, constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are assembled into a collective whole." "Computer program" is separately defined, which means that it is not a collective work. > In the first case, they are allowing it to happen and assign > the copyrights as necessary. Do they do this in writing before the code becomes a part of the project? Do they have a written agreement with their employees that explicitly waives their work-for-hire interest in the copyright? -- Anthony
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