Re:Google claims copyright on employee side projects
by claudeganon on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @10:08AM
(#21825564)
See, for example, the entire history of IP in comics, which Disney is now using to print money.
Re:Google claims copyright on employee side projects
by bitwize on Wednesday December 18, 2019 @11:27AM
(#21826467)
Yeah, about that, there was an artist named Ken Penders who worked on Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics. He sued Archie and Sega over the characters he created for the Sonic stories. Apparently work-for-hire due diligence was not done on Archie and Sega's part, because rather than squash him like a bug they settled out of court saying in effect: "go away, and take your stupid characters with you".
So apparently, companies do have to go through a few hoops to make their claim on their employees' IP airtight.
You must be joking! Yes, the "Work made for hire" requirements are convoluted, but most of the complexity applies only to independent contractors anyways. I have never heard of a US corporation be in danger because of an employee claiming copyright, yet people's personal projects and own companies constantly get screwed by former employers.