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When you write software, you are creating property. By default, this property will be owned by somebody. If you are an employee, it is likely that your employer will own the software you create in the course of your employment. If you are working for yourself, or working in your free time on matters unrelated to your work, then it is likely that you will own it. If you are self-employed and developing software as a service under a contract agreement, then the contract ought to define who owns the intellectual property that results. If the contract does not define who will own the property, it is more likely than not that the contractor who wrote it will own it. If you are working as part of a group, where there are multiple employers, contractors and/or individuals, or some parties are based outside the UK, then the ownership of the resulting property can be complex. It may be that all contributors jointly own all of the property, or that the property is divided into sections that are owned by different people or organisations. Ideally, an agreement detailing who will own what should be made before the work is begun.
In order to be safe, one should always make sure that agreements or contracts specify who will own the intellectual property that results from any collaboration, consortium or contract work.
Computer software is protected by copyright law. Copyright law gives the owner of a work certain rights over it, and makes it illegal for others to use the work as though they were its owner. Copyright originally came into being to ensure that literary authors were properly remunerated for their work. Its concepts originate in the protection of written works, and it can be helpful to remember that computer software and its associated materials are treated by the law as species of literary work.
Owning the copyright in a piece of work, whether literary or programmatic, means that you decide who can copy it, adapt it and distribute it. By default, only the owner can do these things. Anyone who copies, changes or distributes someone else’s work without permission can have legal action taken against them.
Copyright comes into being as soon as a work is ‘fixed’ — meaning as soon as it is recorded in some way. There is no need to register your work in order to gain copyright; it happens automatically. There is also no requirement to mark your work as copyrighted with a © symbol, although you should, as this emphasises the legal presumption of your ownership of it.
Writing software may well result in more than one piece of property. For example, program’s source code is property, as can be the preparatory design material for it, its general organisation and its user interface. The consequences of this fact are worth bearing in mind.
Programmers also need to bear in mind that when they work in concert or collaboratively with others, the geography of the ownership of the resultant software and its preparatory design material can become very complex. For example, some works may be owned by one programmer and not another, while other works, where one programmer’s contribution cannot be distinguished from another’s, may be jointly owned. As copyright only protects the expression of ideas, it is essential when working collaboratively for those involved to have an agreement drawn up that describes the ownership of the works produced.
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