3 ms·

I’m having trouble understanding why anybody would expect that to be the case. I have, for example, built things for government in the past. They paid for some

I’m having trouble understanding why anybody would expect that to be the case. I have, for example, built things for government in the past. They paid for some code that I wrote and now they can use it as they like. But, (as with any client), they don’t have the right to turn around and give it to you. If you want that code, I’m happy to sell it to you. But, again, you’re not allowed to sell it on or give it away. Because that’s how software consulting works.

bryanrasmussen 4y ago
I'm not understanding what you said, do you mean you had built the code before and you licensed it to the government, or in the contract you wrote to the government you specified that you owned the code that you were delivering, every time I've written code for people who've paid me on a project basis they can do what they want with the code afterwards, including give it away.
- jasonkester 4y ago
  You could certainly ask for the right to redistribute the code when we were negotiating the contract. But that would get you a much larger quote since now you wouldn’t just be buying the software, you’d also have to be paying for every potential future sale of something similar. I can’t imagine that the government (or anybody really) would do that.
  - unnah 4y ago
    I suppose it depends on the market. I have been involved in a number of contracts to develop bespoke software for big private sector companies. Twenty years ago they were happy to just buy usage rights, but since then the customers have grown wiser to their leverage and keep insisting that if they pay for the development work, they get to keep the rights to the results. It's different if the vendor already has IP that can be licensed to the customer to substantially reduce the development cost of the bespoke solution.

3 ms·

I’m having trouble understanding why anybody would expect that to be the case. I have, for example, built things for government in the past. They paid for some

by jasonkester 4y ago

bryanrasmussen 4y ago
I'm not understanding what you said, do you mean you had built the code before and you licensed it to the government, or in the contract you wrote to the government you specified that you owned the code that you were delivering, every time I've written code for people who've paid me on a project basis they can do what they want with the code afterwards, including give it away.
- jasonkester 4y ago
  You could certainly ask for the right to redistribute the code when we were negotiating the contract. But that would get you a much larger quote since now you wouldn’t just be buying the software, you’d also have to be paying for every potential future sale of something similar. I can’t imagine that the government (or anybody really) would do that.
  - unnah 4y ago
    I suppose it depends on the market. I have been involved in a number of contracts to develop bespoke software for big private sector companies. Twenty years ago they were happy to just buy usage rights, but since then the customers have grown wiser to their leverage and keep insisting that if they pay for the development work, they get to keep the rights to the results. It's different if the vendor already has IP that can be licensed to the customer to substantially reduce the development cost of the bespoke solution.