Re: Software copywrite.
Ralph Crongeyer writes:
> Does anyone on this list know about or where/who to find info about
> software copyright?
> My specific question is this:
> If I wrote a web program for my company that was being used on a
> government project and then I left the company and wanted to
> completely rewrite the code (it will do the same thing) and patent it
> myself, is that legal?
> PS: The government contract only called for an FTP server not a web
> application. My manager convinced the customer that this would be
> better, but never contractually obligated to produce such a thing.
Your questions about copyright and patent law are best asked of a
lawyer. The debian-legal mailing list is chartered to address
questions of legality and propriety that apply to software in Debian,
not to third parties.
(I am not a lawyer, but any employment agreements you signed with your
employer would limit your options. It is likely that the software and
its workings would be considered a trade secret of your employer, and
that you would be barred from creating a work-alike based on what you
did in their employ.)
Michael Poole
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