If you are the owner of a small business and you are serious about staying in business, you should get a firm grasp on your assets - ie. your intellectual property - unless you are just overflowing with work, or already rich, and really know that ownership of this app it won't be an issue.

While open-sourcing software can lead to good things, are these the good things that you'll need in the beginning years of your business? I recommend whatever you do, make sure you don't give away the farm.

Meanwhile, I also recommend the scariest lawyers you can afford and get them to look into software licensing law and determine exactly what your rights are regarding ownership, distribution and protection of your intellectual property. Get them to (or draft with them) a licensing agreement you have at the ready, so whenever you take on new business you know exactly what you're offering and your client knows exactly what they're paying for.

Know what your rights and privileges are - otherwise you may spend countless hours down the road fighting pointless battles and counting your grey hairs instead of producing new work, forging new business relationships, and best of all - making money! It's not evil, it's life. Business is evil.

Not that this happened to me ... :)



-mr.dunstan

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