Who owns your words?

Interesting post tonight by Dave Taylor: who owns your words when you write about your employer.

I say it depends. When I write on Channel 9 it's pretty clear cut: my employer owns my words.

But on my own blog, which isn't paid for by Microsoft, and I publish on my own time, then my words are mine.

What do you think?

Comments

[/pd]

Think again Rob. This is quite the issue ..correct ??
Who owns it ?? The content is currently is hosted on some server with Typepad.com.. Who owns the content if you published on MSNSpaces ?? In both cases the Service Provider owns the server and by that virture owns the contents too ? Do they have the right to reproduce it ?? Well you know the story about bloglines, the lawyer and you.. !!

But the issues are much then just that .. what happens if I produce a 100 yr old book in digital format and some joeblow scoops it up and reproduces in hardcopy format as orignal works ! Who needs to be tasked ?? The Publisher, the author who posted ? the person who breaks copyrights ? The Host Provider ??

These are critical issues within Blogsphere..

I dont know the answers..but only have concerns.. thats why I stop the blackbook publication ! !:)-

[Dan Jemiolo]

Scoble:

I don't know that it's that simple. Yes, you post to your blog on your own time, but even if you owned the server and domain that host your blog (alleviating any potential issues mentioned by /pd), that doesn't mean that you are the owner. I assume that Microsoft's employee contracts (NDA, no-compete, etc.) are fairly similar those of other large companies, and that anything you do that is in the realm of Microsoft's business is the property of Microsoft. The question, then, is whether your blog holds work that is similar to other work you create inside your office.

For example: I am a developer at IBM. If I work on an outside software project that is part of IBM's business plans (current or future), IBM has a claim on that work. It doesn't matter if I do it on "my own time" (another gray area), or if I give it away for free - if IBM thinks it applies to our business, they can take it. Does that mean that IBM cares about all of the extra coding I do? No. But I always consider my employee contracts when I start working on a new project.

Your situation is a bit different, but I think the restrictions are still present. You are involved with Microsoft's marketing and customer relations; at the same time, your blog has a LOT of material that I could imagine seeing on microsoft.com. I am not saying you're a phony salesman, I'm just saying that you write about Microsoft technology a lot, and that this happens to be part of your day job. If, for some reason, Microsoft did want to claim ownership of your content, it would have a decent argument.

Those little disclaimers people put on their blogs don't protect them or their company from legal action, and legal action is expensive. Like IBM, Microsoft is a large company, one that gets sued all the time; there are many little cases that never make the news, and they cost the company money whether it settles or not. If your blog becomes evidence in complaints against Microsoft, I'm sure your legal team will start examining the ownership issue much more closely.

And I bet the whole thing will become a lot fuzzier at that point.

[Steven Streight aka Vaspers the Grate]

On my Blogger blogspot.com blog, I own the copyright to the contents, but not the template (Jeffrey Zeldman did the Vaspers, Doug Bowman did the Streight Site), nor the software supporting it.

Intellectual property rights are pretty clear, except for what your contract with Microsoft may state, I don't know what that wording is.

But I would guess if you write a book on blogs, monster movies, horseradish, culverts, or oneiric fantabulations, you'd own your words...though you might make your employer upset if you wrote a book on how you hate blacks, gays, women, birds, Jews, Muslims, and red aunts.

Reverse scenario: if the CEO of the firm at which I work had a personal blog in which he wrote about how he hates blacks, gays, women, birds, Jews, Muslims, and red aunts, would I want to continue working there and helping his business succeed?

Do I have a right to judge him by what he writes on his personal, non-company blog. Of course I do, and would indeed quit. Especially if he hated birds.

[Carmi Levy]

If you write something for an employer under the aegis of your employment with said entity, the employer owns 'em.

If you are freelancing for an entity, and are paid for a submission, what you are in fact selling them is a one-time right to publish your work. Ownership stays with you unless you explicitly sign that over.

Beyond legalities, they came from your head. You own them in the grander sense. Whether a judge agrees with you or not is, frankly, worthy of an entire blog on its own.

Carmi Levy
http://writteninc.blogspot.com