Protecting my Intellectual Property (source code)
I’ve been offered an exciting opportunity to write code for an preliminary research project with one of my university professors here in Australia. I’m getting paid and he stated I’ll have full copyright claim to any code I write.
What if in the future he is able to profit off of the code I develop? What licensing options do I have so I can protect my intellectual property and earn my share if any profit benefits he receives using my code?
Some additional details:
- I’m from the USA on study abroad. I’d like to be protected in both AUS and USA.
- I am the only developer at this stage in the project. There will be no collaboration issues with my intellectual property copyright.
- I’m not trying to rip the professor off; I just want to be protected if he was to make a lot of money off of my algorithm.
Thank you in advanced ~Ethan
It's odd for someone to pay you and offer you full copyright to the code. If you have copyright to the code provided your agreement doesn't give him an unrestricted license to use it or anything then you don't need to do anything. I'd double check any employment contract you sign with him or the university though since they will almost certainly include an intellectual property assignment.
We are still in the process of confirming my position and setting forth structured guidelines for the project. I'm just looking to know what my options are as I am very new to this. Thank you for your input and I'll make sure to read the employment contract very closely.
Cool sounds like a good opportunity and a good boost to the CV when it goes ahead.