What copyright/license for paid code?

[steven]

Hello all,

What do you use for copyright/license header when you work as paid freelance?

Is something like this acceptable?
Should each file contain a mention of the project for which you were paid?

Would you be more restrictive? Less?

Thanks for your insights

Code: Select all

/*
 Copyright (c) 2010 YOUR NAME, YOUR EMAIL, YOUR WEBSITE
 
 Permission if hereby granted for CLIENT NAME (CLIENT EMAIL & WEB ADDRESS)
 to use this code without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense and/or sell
 copies of the Software and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished
 to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 
 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included  in all copies or
 substantial portions of the Software.
 
 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, 
 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
 OR MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.
 IN NO EVEN SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHTS HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY
 CLAIM, DAMAGE OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
 TORT OR OTHERWISE, APPRISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH
 THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
*/

[tuan kuranes]

Unless you're selling sofwtare, it totally depends on what you've agreed with the client by contract.
And I would have doubt on the as-is part if you sell service, as law often protect clients.

[steven]

I will reformulate

If a contract dictates under which copyright/license the code must be delivered you often can only accept or refuse the job.
But if you can negotiate the contract term (or even dictate the whole license text) what would be the terms you aim to?

[tuan kuranes]

copyrights claims is the most important, as it's enforced by the law
for the other part, it depends on what you intend to do with the code.
If you want to sell it to other clients, don't give the right to sell, etc.

Here, I do advocate opensource as much as I can, leaving only proprietary code (client side) if it's the heart of the product, everything else should goes into opensource libs. (key argument is often reduced in their mind as "let the others maintain the code")
But I do not succeed that much, it's more often client choice.

[steven]

copyrights claims is the most important, as it's enforced by the law

That I agree I could until now refuse any contracts that transfer the copyright to the buyer.
As it is then not clear if would be able to reuse my own code for my own projects.

.. it depends on what you intend to do with the code. If you want to sell it to other clients, don't give the right to sell, etc. ..... leaving only proprietary code (client side) if it's the heart of the product,

That's my problem: how to formulate those different versions?

I hoped someone had some good templates that I could inspire from.

... everything else should goes into opensource libs.

If you check the license above you will see it is a near copy of the LGPL

[tuan kuranes]

sorry, no templates, it's really a case by case thing here.

[madmarx]

I would give only .h and .obj (or lib). That is why templates are harder for business .
Do you want to reuse the code yourself for other clients /projects ? In that case you should make it clear that you hold the rights, and sells only the right to use the code to the client.

[steven]

Do you want to reuse the code yourself for other clients /projects ? In that case you should make it clear that you hold the rights, and sells only the right to use the code to the client.

but how to formulate that?

Why is there no "Open Source Contracts" website or database where you could find good contracts templates?
Why are we obliged to pay thousands of $ to lawyers to formulate them?

I don't get it why people are so protective of the text of the contracts they had? What's the secret?
I would gladly show mine but even I can see holes where an elephant can go through
and I know they are not good examples