[ale] [WAY OT]Reverse Engineering MS Visual Basic Applications

[Bob Toxen]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2003 at 05:16:18PM -0400, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> Hack away. If they come after you, tell 'em to bow it out their a**
> since you tried to get them to do something else. Wave the "OK to
> reverse-engineer" paper and start naming the law firms you had look at
> the documentation that all gave their approval (bluff). I'll be happy to
> refer a good contract lawyer to you if they insist on calling the bluff.
That's a good way to get sued.

> Not to chide anyone, but if someone pays to have software written for
> them, THEY OWN IT, not the writers. The company who writes it, unless
> they are devious and the client doesn't read the the agreement and
> PROTEST LOUDLY, should have no more claim to ownership of the code than
> the shoemaker does to the shoes on my feet.
Frequently, this is not true.  The client owns it only if it is "Work
made for hire" and there is no copyright notice or other indication
that the company that developed it lays claim to it.  Otherwise, you
are risking being sued.

> GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL .GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL. GPL.
It's great when a programmer gives away code.  I've given some away but
I've charged for other code to make a living.

> This situation underscores the overwhelming need for source code access.
> I have hit this wall more than once on projects where the original code
> base writers are gone and the source was not provided and now the entire
> project gets redone FROM SCRATCH to make up for the deficiency. If the
> hood is welded shut, don't buy the car!
Many times, the price for "Work made for hire" is much higher than other
arrangements.  Depending on the criticality of the code, insisting that
the source be held in escrow or making other arrangements is a good idea.
There is no "one size fits all".

The answer in this case is that the provider's management may have been
too stupid to keep copies of the code that the disgruntled programmers
produced.  Your friend may want to try to contact the programmers directly.
However, you may not be able to legally accept the code from the programmers.

This is a perfect example of "Create a good contract in advance to avoid
problems later."

Bob

> On Mon, 2003-09-29 at 16:55, Jonathan Glass wrote:
> > Apparently not.  When the company announced the break-up, the
> > programmers became very disgruntled, and that is a much info as the
> > company's management is willing to share.  :(
> > 
> > Jonathan Glass
> > 
> > On Mon, 2003-09-29 at 16:43, Geoffrey wrote:
> > > They won't provide the source?
> > > 
> > > Jonathan Glass wrote:
> > > > A friend of mine had some custom software written by a small consulting
> > > > firm.  The firm has since fallen on hard times, split up, and told him
> > > > he's out of luck.  They did (supposedly) provide him with a document
> > > > spelling out his legal right to reverse engineer the software.  Anyone
> > > > know how I should proceed here?  Is this legal, does anyone on this list
> > > > know how to do or contract for this type of work?
> > > > 
> > > > TIA
> > 
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> -- 
> James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
> CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
> Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
> 770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
> http://www.localnetsolutions.com

> GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
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