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At what point does it become illegal?

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by cpimichael 1 view

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I am struggling with this and have rejoined TechRepublic just to ask this question.

I am the Technology Lead and a Director in my company.

We hired a software development company to build us an application specific to our industry with the intention of reselling it. Part of it would take over the tasks currently provided by a local software developers application that we purchased. I am not sure if this is ethical, but another Director here asked our developer to look at the local developers application and basically duplicate it. As far as I know no source code has been shared. Is this legal? Is it ethical? I feel like it is not ethical, but believe I am in the minority on this here and need to get my head straight on this.

Thank you for responding, I am really lost right now.

13 replies

by dldorrance

The code in the application you now use may have a copyright, so you would not want to copy someone else's code in your program.

It is possible to patent software. This is discussed here, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent

Since you plan to sell this product, you might well be advised to seek an opinion from a Patent Attorney, to avoid unpleasant surprises down the road.

by tony hopkinson

on the legality, presumably you dd have a contract wth the original dev.

Ethically?
If you own the IP, then you should have the code, if you do and you don't have it someone screwed up big style.

If you don't own the IP then this is the action of slimy underhanded grasper...

by drowningnotwaving

Depending upon your local laws, which someone should be able to tell you reasonably quickly.

1. Check the contract for services. This should explicitly confirm the owner of the copyright on the code.

2. If no contract, or if no copyright clause - there will be a default owner that is dictated by both Statute and common law in your specific country.

In Australia, about 10-ish years ago, the 'default' owner of commercial software became the person PAYING for the work, not the person performing the work.

Such copyright can be transferred by agreement (i.e. contract).

3. There may also be hybrid agreements where either the copyright is jointly owned, or financial consideration is given if it is on-sold to another party.

-0-0-0

So in certain circumstances, your boss may be perfectly within his / her rights to ask that this work be performed.

And in certain circumstances, he / she may be acting completely against the law.

By such conundrums do Lawyers breed.

by santeewelding

Came to realize, though, that the lawyer is vested in stasis -- the status quo, and would make a terrible revolutionary.

by bergenfx

... in a beret and a three-piece suit, brandishing a kalashnikov in one hand and a brief case in the other ... viva la jurisprudence.

What an image that cuts ... it would have been on the tee-shirts of youth to this day.

by ansugisalas

For, they can with their minds and voices and gestures change that past participle of trow you ponder.

They can make it so.

Invariably, in becoming magi, they forget what they sought to achieve. The Art is it's own goal, and it eats them alive if they're any good.
The mediocre may form PACs, but the truebloods are on a different scale entirely.

by jaqui

the Free Software / Open Source Software do it all the time.
and as long as there is no code that is part of the original application, there is nothing illegal about it.

an example, Photoshop.
if someone was to duplicate the functionality of photoshop using only their own code, then market it, as long as they didn't call it photoshop [ or any other existing name for similar applications ] they are all good.

and Corel did exactly that years ago.
CorelDraw! Suite contained Corel's vector graphic illustrator competitor, and photopaint, their photoshop competitor.
and they STILL have it available:
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/ca/en/Product/1191272117978

Corel has Corel Office Suite as well, competing with M.S. Office. [ and that was originally WordPerfect ]

so there is nothing illegal about duplicating function.
you cannot duplicate look completely, nor can you use any of the original application code.

by santeewelding

You'd have something to say about it. Comports with my understanding, too.

Of course, we could all be dragged into this whirlpool as [i]amicus curaiae[/i].

I don't know you. You don't know me.

by ansugisalas

What does it say about reverse-engineering?

Of course, there are many ways to claim that "I didn't reverse-engineer it, I just made a program that does the same".

But even so, there are all these copyright lawsuits flying around, so it's worth being careful.
If the order was to duplicate, that sounds bad. Replicate is more greyish.

Be careful, also, about your screen name... if you're worried about being recognizable that is - it seems to be giving out a lot of info, especially with the other information (city, state, etc.) in there.

There are all kinds of lurkers here. Most of the 1000000+ users never post a thing. They just sift, and their reasons are their own.

by charliespencer

If you plan on selling it in other countries, you better check there too. I'd go with all the other recommendations to hire a lawyer.

by aaronchall

This is functionality that was described by your company and outsourced. If your company can easily duplicate it in house, so can your competitors, which may tell them what price point they should ask for the software. They have not agreed not to duplicate the efforts of the other company. It is not unethical, it is business, and in your competitive industry, very important strategically.

It tells you which price point you should use, and you have two potential solutions, the better of which you can make a premium solution, and the less functional of which you can make a value solution.

Aaron Hall, MBA
http://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronchall

by jasonjb1222

It would be unethical/illegal to have the guy create the whole thing under contract and than refuse to pay him. Regardless, once you OWN the softwarem if no clause was added that the IP belongs to you, you enter the grey area. You would technically be entitled to duplicating the functionality and use of said software, as others have mentionned without copying the existing code.
If royalties are to be given to the original programmer for his work, than you can be in hot water. That being said, he holds the code, and expects payment for his product. Your in house developper develops code for your company, different code, and that is what you are selling/marketting. The NEW IP belongs to you.

Patents do come to mind, but noone owns the patent to "combustion" or it's uses in a car for example. Everyone is/was entitled to developping their own functionning engine and patenting that, once completed.

Grey area indeed. I think, you are in more of a moral struggle than anything else. These are the types of things that can end up clogging the courts for years... And never have a definitive outcome. Only the reputation of the company and the deicsion makers can be seriously injured.

All my own opinions expressed herein.

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