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Since your project is open source, you should try to evaluate whether your employer could benefit financially from suing you to gain control of your open source

Since your project is open source, you should try to evaluate whether your employer could benefit financially from suing you to gain control of your open source project. If not, then they are less likely to do so. Also, you should factor in the PR/reputation cost to the company. If they're in the open source space anyway, it would be bad PR for them if they tried to suppress or discourage the independent open source work of their employees. Ultimately, as the creator, it's in the best interest of the open source project and society that it remain under your control.

varispeed 7y ago
This assumes the employer is only motivated by money, but there may be big egos that would sink the ship just for the sake of enforcing the contract. May be delicate and ugly.
mannykannot 7y ago
If, as many have speculated, OP has signed a contract making this work the employer's property, then I would guess that it is not open source and never was - it would be like OP declaring the work he did in his day job as open source, and then making it public.
- cryptica 7y ago
  It depends on whether the employee worked on it during company time, whether the employee was asked by the employer to work on it and how closely the work aligns with the employer's business. If companies could claim ownership over all their employees' personal open source work done during their private time, there would be no open source projects today.
  - mannykannot 7y ago
    > It depends on... Yes, that was my point - it is not a certainty (and so any advice beginning "since your project is open source..." might be based on a misconception.) >...whether the employee worked on it during company time, whether the employee was asked by the employer to work on it and how closely the work aligns with the employer's business. It actually depends on the terms of OP's contract and whether the relevant clauses (if any) are enforcible in the appropriate jurisdiction. The factors you mention may be a factor in whether this is open source (and we already know, from OP, that it does align with the employer's business), but the "but if..." argument of your second paragraph is unlikely to carry much weight, legally. This is why OP should speak to a lawyer if she is dissatisfied with the employer's proposal.

varispeed 7y ago

This assumes the employer is only motivated by money, but there may be big egos that would sink the ship just for the sake of enforcing the contract. May be delicate and ugly.

mannykannot 7y ago

If, as many have speculated, OP has signed a contract making this work the employer's property, then I would guess that it is not open source and never was - it would be like OP declaring the work he did in his day job as open source, and then making it public.

cryptica 7y ago
It depends on whether the employee worked on it during company time, whether the employee was asked by the employer to work on it and how closely the work aligns with the employer's business. If companies could claim ownership over all their employees' personal open source work done during their private time, there would be no open source projects today.
- mannykannot 7y ago
  > It depends on... Yes, that was my point - it is not a certainty (and so any advice beginning "since your project is open source..." might be based on a misconception.) >...whether the employee worked on it during company time, whether the employee was asked by the employer to work on it and how closely the work aligns with the employer's business. It actually depends on the terms of OP's contract and whether the relevant clauses (if any) are enforcible in the appropriate jurisdiction. The factors you mention may be a factor in whether this is open source (and we already know, from OP, that it does align with the employer's business), but the "but if..." argument of your second paragraph is unlikely to carry much weight, legally. This is why OP should speak to a lawyer if she is dissatisfied with the employer's proposal.