I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
1–10 of 272 posts
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#2INAL but even if you did not get paid does not automatically means the result of work for hire belongs to you. If you are a contractor this is a smart thing to explicitly stipulate in the contract.
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#3I find it odd that the license is MIT here. Since he ultimately wrote this gratis, that license means his client could easily return and use it gratis, whereas a license such as AGPLv3 would help ensure he'd actually get paid if this client decided it wanted to use it again.
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#4I wonder if the reverse has happened. Where a client pays for a project, and gets code, but it's terrible. So, open source it with attribution to the original developer and an appropriate README analysis of the low points.
Edit: Wondering if it has happened doesn't mean I'm promoting it as a terrific idea.
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#5I find it odd that the license is MIT here. Since he ultimately wrote this gratis, that license means his client could easily return and use it gratis, whereas a license such as AGPLv3 would help ensure he'd actually get paid if this client decided it wanted to use it again.
He said the client pivoted to another product idea. I doubt he's going to use someone else's code he didn't pay for then find another developer to work on it...
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#6INAL but even if you did not get paid does not automatically means the result of work for hire belongs to you. If you are a contractor this is a smart thing to explicitly stipulate in the contract.
There would have to be a pretty interesting contract that states if the client defaults that they retain ownership of any work related. They may likely be able to make some claims around any IP related.
But you can put anything in a contract, so whose to say.
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#7I find it odd that the license is MIT here. Since he ultimately wrote this gratis, that license means his client could easily return and use it gratis, whereas a license such as AGPLv3 would help ensure he'd actually get paid if this client decided it wanted to use it again.
I greatly appreciate the author's generosity in this case. The code looks very interesting.
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#8I wonder if the reverse has happened. Where a client pays for a project, and gets code, but it's terrible. So, open source it with attribution to the original developer and an appropriate README analysis of the low points. Edit: Wondering if it has happened doesn't mean I'm promoting it as a terrific idea.
Great! Put coder's skin in the game
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#9INAL but even if you did not get paid does not automatically means the result of work for hire belongs to you. If you are a contractor this is a smart thing to explicitly stipulate in the contract.
The copyright of a work belongs to its creator by default. (That's U.S. law; no contract is required to make that happen.) A standard contract for a contractor will stipulate that the copyright will be assigned to the client upon payment. If payment never occurs, the copyright stays with the work's creator.
Re: I didn't get paid, so I open-sourced my client’s project
#10I wonder if the reverse has happened. Where a client pays for a project, and gets code, but it's terrible. So, open source it with attribution to the original developer and an appropriate README analysis of the low points. Edit: Wondering if it has happened doesn't mean I'm promoting it as a terrific idea.
But why would you opensource terrible code? Even if you want to write an essay about bad practices, it sounds easier to write it just taking extracts to illustrate the points.
That said, attributing those extracts that you are criticizing would be pretty bad form, maybe even basis for a defamation suit. So, sounds messy either way.