>>>If the product/code has a Copyright filed on it, than that changes everything. I have had only one company file for a copyright and that was part of filing for a patient.
>>
>>
>>Nope. Filing a copyright makes it more enforcable, but the copyright starts the moment you start writing the code.
>
>
>Unless I'm missing the point here, we are talking about two different things.
>
>Signing a company programming agreement whether it is company confidental, company property and/or something like that, is separate from copyrighting a product/code. Copyrights are only enforcable after they have been filed on something that already exists. The company agreement, is the programmer aggreeing that any code written from that point on is company property and the company can do what it wants with the code (including filing for a copyright). The only affect it has on the programmer is if the programmer has NOT signed away ownership of the code by signing an agreement with the company and the company files for a copyright.


Wrong. You do not have to file a copyright to enforce it. It simply makes it a whole lot easier to enforce.

As for signing away ownership, there are several things to consider:

- If you are an employee of the company, the company owns the copyright. Period.
- If you are a contractor, and the program is a work for hire, you *probably* own the copyright *unless* you specifically give those rights away at the *end* of the project. It doesn't matter what you sign up front.

This is the way things stood last time I checked on it (within the last year). It is possible that this has changed. That's why I recommend talking to an attorney that specializes in computer law.