7 ms·

I for one wouldn't be so forgiving. Stripping the author's name from source code is an absolute no-go.

by Tepix 5y ago

axiosgunnar 5y ago
It's a textbook copyright violation and could earn the author at least four to five figures when he settles.
- dhosek 5y ago
  Only if the copyright was registered before the infraction can you file for punitive damages. Otherwise you’re only eligible for actual damages.
  - axiosgunnar 5y ago
    Interesting, thanks
  - fastball 5y ago
    Isn't anything you write automatically copyright?
    - axiosgunnar 5y ago
      Yes, and you can get actual damages without registering. It‘s for the punitive damages that you register.
loup-vaillant 5y ago
Consider GP's position: they wrote some code for their old employer, and therefore had no copyright over it (I hate capitalism). Point is, they had very little stake, beyond personal pride and ethics. So now they see that their code has been stolen from the previous company, and they're being asked to work on it, what will they do? Refuse to use the code and risk being fired for being too slow? Report the crime and risk being accused of attempted to cover their own tracks? Talk to HR and being hated by one's closest bosses? I see no way to really win here. At least, not reliably.
squarefoot 5y ago
Yes, but that code wasn't mine either as I wrote at another company as their product. When I added my "hidden" traces I did that with no intention to claim ownership, but rather to leave a signature just in case. Technically the 1st company should have sued him, but I can't know for sure the details; the old project was then dead, and he could have purchased the sources legally, although I doubt that.
- rendall 5y ago
  > leave a signature just in case Just in case what happened? I'm not understanding the work environment that would lead to this practice
  - squarefoot 5y ago
    I honestly don't know, I for sure couldn't foresee that some years later I would have been called from others to work on the same sources. The work environment was really good and I wished the project lasted more, but alas all good things must come to an end. Anyway I had no explicit reason to leave traces other than maybe some odd reasoning after listening to a ("toxic", as some of us realized later) colleague talking about bad experiences in other places and signing his sources in a similar way, but to me it was mainly a "Kilroy was here" thing.

I for one wouldn't be so forgiving. Stripping the author's name from source code is an absolute no-go.

by Tepix 5y ago

I for one wouldn't be so forgiving. Stripping the author's name from source code is an absolute no-go.

axiosgunnar 5y ago

It's a textbook copyright violation and could earn the author at least four to five figures when he settles.

dhosek 5y ago
Only if the copyright was registered before the infraction can you file for punitive damages. Otherwise you’re only eligible for actual damages.
- axiosgunnar 5y ago
  Interesting, thanks
- fastball 5y ago
  Isn't anything you write automatically copyright?
  - axiosgunnar 5y ago
    Yes, and you can get actual damages without registering. It‘s for the punitive damages that you register.

loup-vaillant 5y ago

Consider GP's position: they wrote some code for their old employer, and therefore had no copyright over it (I hate capitalism). Point is, they had very little stake, beyond personal pride and ethics. So now they see that their code has been stolen from the previous company, and they're being asked to work on it, what will they do? Refuse to use the code and risk being fired for being too slow? Report the crime and risk being accused of attempted to cover their own tracks? Talk to HR and being hated by one's closest bosses? I see no way to really win here. At least, not reliably.

squarefoot 5y ago

Yes, but that code wasn't mine either as I wrote at another company as their product. When I added my "hidden" traces I did that with no intention to claim ownership, but rather to leave a signature just in case. Technically the 1st company should have sued him, but I can't know for sure the details; the old project was then dead, and he could have purchased the sources legally, although I doubt that.

rendall 5y ago
> leave a signature just in case Just in case what happened? I'm not understanding the work environment that would lead to this practice
- squarefoot 5y ago
  I honestly don't know, I for sure couldn't foresee that some years later I would have been called from others to work on the same sources. The work environment was really good and I wished the project lasted more, but alas all good things must come to an end. Anyway I had no explicit reason to leave traces other than maybe some odd reasoning after listening to a ("toxic", as some of us realized later) colleague talking about bad experiences in other places and signing his sources in a similar way, but to me it was mainly a "Kilroy was here" thing.