Federal Court on source code ownership
Alan L Tyree <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.org.user-groups.slug.chat |
|---|---|
| Organization | Sage Tutorial Systems Pty Ltd |
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
Some Sluggers might be interested in this. The Federal Court has made it clear that a consultant (non-employee) who is commissioned to write a computer program is not required to turn over the source code unless the contract specifically requires it. Phrased in more legalese: there is no implied term in a contract for the production of a computer program that the source code must be delivered. There is, however, an implied term that the person commissioning the program has a right to use the program, ie, an implied licence. Part of the reasoning is that Div 4A of the Copyright Act 1968 provides rights of decompilation for the purposes of finding errors and developing interfaces. There is therefore no "business efficacy" argument that an implied term is required. Case report at http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCA/2008/938.html -- Alan L Tyree http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan Tel: 04 2748 6206 Fax: +61 2 4782 7092 FWD: 615662 -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html