Resources for Intellectual Property Contracts

[kenneth2k1]

Hello

Does anyone know of any good (free, possibly) contract templates or legal text for FileMaker solution development? Would a FileMaker solution be considered intellectual property? What if I wanted to outline terms for retaining the rights to the solution so I can sell it to others, and terms for allowing them to purchase the rights to the solution.

Thanks for all the advice.

Ken

[Fitch]

Not contracts for FileMaker specifically, but try these:

http://webdesign.about.com/msubcontracts.htm

http://www.provider.com/contracts.htm

[danjacoby]

Anything that requires independent thinking is intellectual property -- including FMP solutions.

As far as contracts are concerned, in the U.S. at least, any written agreement that doesn't violate any laws and isn't intended to defraud or deceive is a legal, binding contract. Courts take a dim view of people who try to wriggle out of (or around) terms of a written contract, a fact most lawyers don't want you to know, since it's the fear of someone wriggling out that drives most people to get a lawyer to draft a contract.

Generally, you can take a look at the license agreements from your various applications, and use them as a basis for drafting your own. After all, they were drafted by lawyers, and they all pretty much say the same thing.

[SteveB]

Nolo Press has a lot of information about intellectual property rights. Unfortunately, it is not free. Their site is www.nolopress.com

[kenneth2k1]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

A laywer once told me that the poor man's way of copyrighting something is to type out a description of it, and include specific properties of the work.

Would you consider this a legitimate way to copyright a FileMaker solution? Thoughts?

[kenneth2k1]

oh yeah. You put the copyright sign on the description. And then you're suppose to print it and send it to yourself and not open it. This way the postmark shows a date of when it was created.

[kenneth2k1]

Thanks Fitch for the insight. Sorry I mostly try to exercise self-reliance before comming to this forum, so I appreciate the link.

Ken

[Fitch]

That "mail it to yourself" bit is not necessary. Why not just go straight to the source ?

"WHO CAN CLAIM COPYRIGHT

Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. "

"What does copyright protect?

Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed. See Circular 1, section What Works Are Protected.

2. When is my work protected?

Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form so that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."

IOW, as soon as you create a database, it's copyrighted. You don't have to write anything down, but if you're worried, you could print out the layouts, the scripts, the field definitions. Or, I think an excellent way would be to just burn a CD -- I'd call that "fixed in a tangible form."

[jasonwood]

I was looking around on google for sample software development contracts and came across this book I thought the forum might be interested in.

The book is "Web & Software Development: A Legal Guide"

It also includes a CD-ROM with sample contracts, agreements, and legal forms.

The page where I found it is here:

http://www.nolo.com/lawstore/products/product.cfm/objectID/2C02C865-21E7-497C-9DDDBA058175FFA1

Has anyone out there used this book? How would you rate it?

--

Jason

StoreOS

[CyberSport]

I actually use another nolo book, "copyrighting your software." i found it to be a great help.

Bevin

[jasonwood]

By the way, if you were going to buy that book I mentioned... you're probably not going to want to buy it from the store I linked you to... the shipping cost is outrageous!

I just ordered a copy from GreatIdeaGear.com (they're shipping the 3rd edition now by the way, which they didn't mention on the site). The shipping cost was about 1/7th what the other store was (for shipping to Canada at least)... YIKES!!!

Now I know where mail order businesses really make their money!

I will let you know how I like it once I've had a chance to go through it.

--

Jason

HeyWoody.com

[jasonwood]

I just started looking through that book I mentioned, "Web & Software Development - A Legal Guide". So far so good.

So far I have only been looking at the section for Custom Software Development Agreements. There is lots of information that I have often asked myself about when considering this business (along with many things I've never thought of).

The book includes a CD with sample agreements. The book walks you through the entire contract, explaining each section, and how to fill in the blanks and choose between optional paragraphs.

If you buy this book for yourself, I highly recommend GreatIdeaGear.com

The shipping charge was only $6.50 to Canada (online dealers usually like to charge a fortune for shipping) and the service is outstanding. I think it's fully operated by its owner (probably in his basement) which means the person you deal with really cares about his customers.