Code ownership
Does a company own my code if I they didn't hire me for programming, but I wrote some to simplify certain tasks?
Just asking out of curiosity. I am not planning to publish/do anything with it.
5 Replies
depends on the contract
depends on contract, jurisdiction
and also if the code is part of what you was hired for.
Generally in america law is more on corporate side, while in europe it's other way around.
In Russia there is a concept for "служебное произведение" which translates roughly to "official work" or "work of service" but means kinda like a painting made as a part of your employment duty, and it requires a grant separate from your employment contract. Which literally makes every software dev is a ticking legal landmine.
Which also can backfire in reverse, see nginx author case who developed it when working for Rambler and after nginx plus was created they realized they can have a share of that pie
rule to follow: don't take work code outside of work
Yes, I intend to follow that rule regardless
But I can add that the contract does not say anything about ownership at all (other than stuff I borrow from them). Also this is in Europe
then should be fine if you don't make something bad