Re: Non contracted intelectual property. (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED 
Caveats: NONE

The pitfall that nobody else has pointed out is that their
current
decision not to pursue is, I think, is not binding upon
them.  If some
later management team has a different opinion, they would be
free to go
to court and try to argue that the company was the author of
the work
under the WMFH provisions.  I don't like their chances,
but...

-----Original Message-----
From: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual
Property
[mailto:CNI-COPYRIGHTcni.org] On Behalf Of Brian Lucas
Sent: Monday, January 08, 2007 3:00 PM
To: CNI-COPYRIGHT -- Copyright & Intellectual Property
Subject: [CNI-(C)] Non contracted intelectual property.

This is purely for my curiosity's sake as the situation has
already been
settled but I was curious if anyone could give me some
information or
maybe a case law or two to back me up.  I was working for a
restaurant
in my area as their kitchen manager.  They were completely
lacking in
any sort of inventory management when I started there.  I
decided on my
own accord to write a little program in sql using Access (on
my personal
computer using my copy of access) in order to keep track of
their
inventory.  I was never commissioned to write this program. 
I wrote a
minimum of 75% of the program on my own time.  A maximum of
25% however
was completed on work time when I had some downtime and
nothing else to
do.  When I quit my job, the owner and GM
"claimed" they had talked to
their lawyer and owned the rights to this program.  I denied
them and
they "decided not to pursue it".  Did they have
any legal right to my
software?
 
 Brian
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED 
Caveats: NONE


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