in reply to GPL/artistic licence issues
in thread Non-Disclosure Legal Fun w/ my ex-Employer
ObDisclaimer: I am not a lawyer, though I should have normally become one. I just chose Perl instead of Law, go figure...
Hey AM!
In France, the law about copyright makes really clear that everything you do during the time spent in a company and for
tasks that are described in your contract belongs to the company.
No matter the nice GPL forewords you may write at the top of your file. As long as you're hired to write programs, all the programs you write during your work hours aren't yours.
Now, that being said, you may be aware that Perl (and most of the modules that come with Perl, including LWP) is ruled by two licenses: the GPL (french translation) and the Artistic License. If you read the 5th article of the Artistic License, you'll notice that one can distribute a program (or package) in another product. This other product doesn't need to be available for free.
That being said, I don't think that your (future-ex)company will apply the GPL for the programms you wrote, if it has half a clue of where its interests are... Since they belong to it, the License can easily be switched to the Artistic License.
As for distributing the sources of the programs. As I understand the Artistic License, you don't have to provide the source of the package, as long as you document where can you find the original version, and what modifications did you make to the package.
/msg me if you want more infos on how coypright and intelectual property works in France!
<kbd>--my $OeufMayo = new PerlMonger::Paris({http => 'paris.mongueurs.net'});</kbd>