Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!gatech!mcnc!thorin!unc!bell
From: bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: FREE Software, PD, and author compensation
Message-ID: <5972@thorin.cs.unc.edu>
Date: 20 Dec 88 21:13:35 GMT
References: <12748@cup.portal.com> <3126@sugar.uu.net>
Sender: news@thorin.cs.unc.edu
Reply-To: bell@unc.UUCP (Andrew Bell)
Organization: University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 34

In article <3126@sugar.uu.net> peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>In article <12748@cup.portal.com>, dan-hankins@cup.portal.com (Daniel B Hankins) writes:
>> I don't like the intellectual property agreements either.  I would very
>> much like to know what happened to the Berne convention that came before
>> Congress earlier this year.  Was it tabled, passed, or passed with the
>> amendment IBM was lobbying for (namely, to remove the part that says you
>> can't sign away your intellectual rights)?

>This is an interesting argument, since it's saying "You have the rights to
>your own intellectual property, except that you can't sell it. You can license
>it or rent it under any terms you like, but you can't sell it." I'm sorry,
>but if I own something (such as the fruit of my labors) and I want to sell
>it that's my right. I may be foolish for doing so, but any law that says I
>can't sell something is telling me I really don't own it.

I think what Dan wants is something like California Labor Code 2870 (Yea!)
which basically says you cannot sign an employeement agreement where your
employer gets the rights to things developed on your own time and with your
own tools,  unless it is a result or spinoff of work performed for the company.

Dan has "signed his life away",  if he's still working where I last had
electronic contact with him,  and he'd rather not have to.  It's a lot like
drug testing;  sure,  you could try to go to another employer without it,
but unless it's illegal,  all employers will probably have such.

Not all of us have the guts to risk going independent.

>Peter "Have you hugged your wolf today" da Silva  `-_-'  peter@sugar.uu.net

    -Andrew Bell
------
Andrew Bell,  living a double life at bell@cs.unc.edu and acb@cs.duke.edu
"Why can't we ever attempt to solve a problem in this country without having
a 'War' on it?" -Rich Thomson, talk.politics.misc