[consulting] copyright policies

[Bill Fitzgerald]

Sean Burlington wrote:
> paola.dimaio at gmail.com wrote:
>   
>> When the bricklayer will work for this project, he will use his bricks, and
>> his standard techniques,  and will learn new skills, and acquire new
>> knowledge that before he did not have
>> He will not be at liberty to reuse the unique architecture which in turn
>> supports my unique
>> service. That does not mean that it will not give other good ideas
>>
>>     
>
> but developing a Drupal site isn't analogous to laying bricks!
>   
Exactly -- and this is why metaphors can be a hindrance, rather than an 
aid, to these types of conversations. The metaphors rarely apply 
directly. Add to that that few, if any of us, are lawyers, and that we 
are talking about law that varies from country to country. I'm confused 
just writing this :)
> - and I think this is the source of at least part of the conflict - 
> managers see the development work as just an implementation of their concept
>
> - whereas many developers feel that they do far more than this and often 
>   contribute a great deal to the business model as well as providing a 
> lot of creative input.
>   
While IANAL, part of the reason I like the idea of Project IP (a term I 
never knew about until our lawyer taught it to me -- and yes, although 
he used it in MY contract he's still free to use it with other clients 
;) ) is that it puts the contributions of the developer to the business 
plan/organizational strategy right on the table.

Cheers,

Bill

-- 
Bill Fitzgerald
http://www.funnymonkey.com
Tools for Teachers
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