FLASH: Copyright - a bit long. Was: who owns the fla?

[Robert Alexander]

Hi all,


A creation in Flash would be governed the same as any other creative work, whether it's programming or 'art.' The copyright to a work occurs automatically at the moment of creation, and it belongs to the creator. The rights are yours unless you specifically and explicitly agree otherwise.


This has been upheld previously in cases of clients claiming after-the-fact that the source code of a program they paid a contractor to write now belongs to them (the client). (Sorry I can't quote any examples.)



Say Mary goes to a baker, and asks him/her to make a special birthday cake for her Father. She asks that it say "Happy Birthday Dad! We Love You!" and have big "hugs 'n kisses" in red icing on it. At this point, she has contracted for a _custom artistic/creative work_. 


She picks up your cake a couple days later, and takes it to Dad's B'day party, where it's a big hit; everyone thinks it's just about the BEST cake they've ever tasted. 


Mary decides she wants to make those cakes at HER business, so she goes back to the baker demanding he turn over 'her' cake recipe, the one she 'bought and paid for.'


Does Mary now own the baker's cake recipe? Of course not. Would a court decide she does? It shouldn't, and I sure as hell HOPE not. But most lawyers will fight ANY case, with no regard to the morality of it, as long as there's enough money in it, so cover your ass.



This being said, and even though copyright does default to you, it can get dicey in *proving* copyright. *ALWAYS* have it say in your contract or on your quote/estimate that you reserve all rights to your work ("All Rights Reserved"). Then, if the client doesn't like that, you can negotiate a higher price for your work (your 'cake recipe'). 


If it ever DOES go to court, you now have a little piece of paper, with the customer's signature on it, that says 'All Rights Reserved." These little pieces of paper are VERY important to judges -- they will often decide the outcome of a case.


After all, it's one thing to sell the finished product that you've created, it's quite another to sell all the hard-earned expertise that went into creating it. (It's considered a 'valuable intellectual property,' and it's _yours_.)


The preceding applies to CONTRACTORS and other independent artists/programmers. In most cases it does NOT apply to persons in the employ of a company, and it most likely says that in the employment contract -- what you create on their time is theirs. Some of them have even been trying to convince the courts that anything you create AT ALL, even on your own time, on your own equipment, is theirs. Fortunately, they seem to be having little luck with these outrageous claims.



So it boils down to this:


If you're a free-lancer, and it hasn't been specified in a contract, the Copyright is YOURS by default. (But *ALWAYS* specify it!).


If you're an employee, you're most likely S.O.L.  :>



Folks: PLEASE don't take this as 'legal advice.' I ain't a lawyer (Heaven forbid). I've just had a fair amount of contact, in my sorted past, with the music biz, the graphic arts biz., and the I.T. biz.


Happy Copyrighted coding, everyone! ALWAYS stand up for your rights -- if you don't, you'll lose them.


Best,

/Rob


Remember: A lawyer is one who uses the letter of the law to defeat the spirit of the law while reaping huge profits at great expense to the client and society.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Robert Alexander

lucidworks Inc.

"Digital solutions for an analog world."

http://www.lucidworks.net



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