University trying to claim application as their own

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Tristan

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Apr 8, 2008, 9:09:01 PM4/8/08
to Ruby on Rails meets the business world
Hey Folks-
I have written an application that generates a significant amount of
trend data. Further, it generates good traffic, as it provides a blog
widget.
The thing is, I developed it while getting credit @ my university.
According to university code, anything I do while given credit for it,
belongs to the university. They are trying to take over my application
by forcing me to host it on their servers.

How can I ensure that the monetized result of this app is passed to
me, rather than the school? How can I properly claim this application
as my own?

Thanks for any input,
-Tristan

Aaron Blohowiak

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Apr 8, 2008, 9:15:11 PM4/8/08
to rails-b...@googlegroups.com
Get a lawyer.

In general, what you do for an assignment, on university equipment, or submit to a professor is going to be owned by your uni. I am not a lawyer and the previous sentence is not legal advice.

Get a lawyer.

-Aaron

Matthew Krom

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Apr 8, 2008, 9:17:29 PM4/8/08
to rails-b...@googlegroups.com
Look up a local lawyer who specializes in IP (Intellectual Property).  Phone them for a quick chat, like an interview.  Explain your situation, and ask how they would approach it.  You'll glean a little advice and orientation out of the process, and you may find a good lawyer to boot.

Matt

Tristan

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Apr 8, 2008, 9:22:07 PM4/8/08
to Ruby on Rails meets the business world
I am not sure if it makes any difference, but the project was brought
on by an independent study - I proposed the idea, I said I wanted
credit, and now they are trying to claim it. I dont know if that
changes anything, but there it is, just in case :)

I will be contacting a lawyer tomorrow.

-Tristan

On Apr 8, 9:15 pm, "Aaron Blohowiak" <aaron.blohow...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Get a lawyer.
>
> In general, what you do for an assignment, on university equipment, or
> submit to a professor is going to be owned by your uni. I am not a lawyer
> and the previous sentence is not legal advice.
>
> Get a lawyer.
>
> -Aaron
>

Carsten Bormann

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Apr 9, 2008, 2:35:46 AM4/9/08
to rails-b...@googlegroups.com, Carsten Bormann
Tristan,

which jurisdiction (country) are you in?

E.g., in Germany, all your academic work clearly belongs to you, not
the academic institution (as much as I would like that to be different).
(Think about it -- to get academic credit, it must be *your* work, and
so *you* have the author's rights [Urheberrechte]. Things might be
different only under an employment contract, and even there the ice is
thin, because you can't be employed for academic credit. If
inventions [patents] become involved, things get slightly more
complicated though.)

That's why we actually sign contracts at the beginning of my Rails
courses here!

IANAL, though.

Gruesse, Carsten

Tristan

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Apr 9, 2008, 9:44:16 AM4/9/08
to Ruby on Rails meets the business world
Thanks to everyone for their replies thus far.
I am in the United States, and it sounds like the school owns my work.
However, Carsten's note on Urheberrechte makes sense. In fact, I DID
sign a contract stating that all work must be my own unique product.
Today is a day for lawyer-calls, though. I'll post what I find out.

-Tristan

ebdb

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Apr 16, 2008, 5:45:06 PM4/16/08
to Ruby on Rails meets the business world
On Apr 9, 6:44 am, Tristan <tschn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks to everyone for their replies thus far.
> I am in the United States, and it sounds like the school owns my work.

What if you said "OK, keep that version," and reimplemented it on your
own? Would they be able to sue you then?

Are they making a lot of money off your product?

What's "trend data"?

E
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