Normal
Re: My head is spinning....I am not an attorney but I do work in Intellectual Property for a Federal agency and spend most of my days with attorneys discussing IP issues.As a federal agency, we have agreements with every employee that stipulate any work done on or off work hours at any location belong to the federal government as long as they relate to your principal duties for the government. If you work as a federal plumber and invent a new toilet, they own it. If you invented a new distro you own it. The basis is that the employer invests great deals of money and time to train you in your professional duties and anything created from that rightfully belongs to them since they effectually invested in it.Copyright can be freely given away without any monetary exchange. The Federal government cannot claim copyright on anything because of federal law. However, Federal agencies may HOLD copyright which is freely given to them. We routinely get IP from our contractors through a simple letter that says ''We own copyright to project xxx and have decided to assign our interests to the federal government.'' No exchange of money required. It is the form of a gift, but could have been provided as a requirement under contract.
Re: My head is spinning....
I am not an attorney but I do work in Intellectual Property for a Federal agency and spend most of my days with attorneys discussing IP issues.
As a federal agency, we have agreements with every employee that stipulate any work done on or off work hours at any location belong to the federal government as long as they relate to your principal duties for the government. If you work as a federal plumber and invent a new toilet, they own it. If you invented a new distro you own it. The basis is that the employer invests great deals of money and time to train you in your professional duties and anything created from that rightfully belongs to them since they effectually invested in it.
Copyright can be freely given away without any monetary exchange. The Federal government cannot claim copyright on anything because of federal law. However, Federal agencies may HOLD copyright which is freely given to them. We routinely get IP from our contractors through a simple letter that says ''We own copyright to project xxx and have decided to assign our interests to the federal government.'' No exchange of money required. It is the form of a gift, but could have been provided as a requirement under contract.
