Does the non-compete cover this scenario?<br><br>Client A pays you for a solution to problem A that directly ties to their business. You retain the ability to reuse the code as you stated.<br><br>Client B is a direct competitor to Client A and comes to you for a solution to the same problem.
<br><br>You gladly hand them the same code tailored to them.<br><br>Who is competing with who? In essence, Client A just paid to help out their competitor, Client B.<br><br>I was a consultant for over 4 years and never under any circumstances would we be allowed to reuse a solution built for one client for another client. We were expensive, however, the client kept everything always.
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 24, 2008 10:28 AM, Bill Fitzgerald <<a href="mailto:bill@funnymonkey.com">bill@funnymonkey.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hello, Robert,<br><br>We have a developer's agreement that we have clients sign as part of the<br>process of starting a job. In that, we clearly identify who gets what.<br><br>A quick breakdown (and as we are a US company, this is based on US law
<br>-- our lawyers are familiar with Open Source law, and actually do some<br>work with the OSL) -- Our goal was to ensure that the code we wrote<br>would always be available to us to reuse, and would always be<br>released/covered under the GPL:
<br><br>Client's pre-existing IP remains their property.<br>Our pre-existing IP remains our property.<br>Project IP (ie, any solutions derived as a direct result of the work)<br>belong to the client.<br>Any code that executes the Project IP belongs to the client, as it is
<br>work for hire.<br>Any code we develop for a client, while remaining the property of the<br>client, is licensed back to us for re-use in perpetuity. Our contract<br>also has a non-compete clause, so that we can't set up (or become)
<br>competitors to our clients. It seems obvious, but some clients are<br>actually worried about that :)<br>Any code we develop is also licensed under the GPL, and we usually<br>negotiate the mechanics of the release with the client.
<br><br>When our lawyers first generated this, it seemed overly elaborate to me,<br>but it gets the job done, as we are never in a situation where we can't<br>access our own work.<br><br>WRT "Are you having similar conflicts with the businesses hiring you as
<br>developers and their copyright policies?" -- we have had situations in<br>the past where people have balked at developing GPL code. For us, it was<br>a clear flag that the client might not be the best fit for us, and I
<br>communicated that very clearly to the client.<br><br>Good luck -- it's a sticky issue for some people, particularly those who<br>are unfamiliar with the benefits of working in an Open Source ecosystem.<br><br>Cheers,
<br><br>Bill<br><br>Robert Garrigós Castro wrote:<br>> I'm having a bit of an issue with a new employer on the copyright of<br>> the code I will write for them and I wonder what copyright policies<br>> other freelance drupal developers have.
<br>><br>> I tend to ask to keep authorship of the code and have my name into the<br>> code as the author, although I yield all other rights to the employer.<br>> Is this a normal procedure for anybody else? Are you having similar
<br>> conflicts with the businesses hiring you as developers and their<br>> copyright policies?<br>><br>> --<br>><br>> Robert Garrigós<br>> -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
<br>> Pŕgina professional / /Professional web page/<br>> <a href="http://garrigos.cat" target="_blank">http://garrigos.cat</a><br>><br>> drupal punt cat: Grup d'Usuaris de Drupal en Catalŕ<br>> <a href="http://drupal.cat" target="_blank">
http://drupal.cat</a> <<a href="http://www.drupal.cat" target="_blank">http://www.drupal.cat</a>><br>> -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --<br>><br>> P * Si no és necessari, no imprimeixis aquest correu.*
<br>><br>><br>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> consulting mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:consulting@drupal.org">
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http://www.funnymonkey.com</a><br>Tools for Teachers<br>503.897.7160<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>consulting mailing list<br><a href="mailto:consulting@drupal.org">consulting@drupal.org</a><br>
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