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Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [legal]

OFF TOPIC QUESTIONS ARE NOT SUPPORTED! Questions about legal matters, including software licensing, are off-topic here. ask a lawyer, or try the law stack exchange site.

OFF TOPIC QUESTIONS ARE NOT SUPPORTED! The law is a minefield and the best advice anyone can give when asked about legal matters is often:

ask a lawyer.

Asking legal questions on Stack Exchange is not a substitute for taking proper local legal advice. What we can do is advise whether asking a lawyer is essential or just highly recommended.

Consider looking at Law.SE as a place to get answers from people who are experts in that domain rather than programmers guessing at it.

262 questions
197
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20 answers

Should you keep a copy of all the code you write?

I know the company you work for owns the code and obviously you will get arrested if you try to sell it. But is it uncommon for developers to keep a personal copy of the code they wrote (for future reference)? Apparently this guy was sent to prison…
superFoo
  • 421
25
votes
14 answers

I'm a contract developer and I think I'm about to get screwed

I do contract development on the side. You could say that I'm a contract developer? Considering I've only ever had one client I'd say that's not exactly the truth - more like I took a side job and needed some extra cash. It started out as a "rebuild…
rage8885
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24
votes
4 answers

When can I publish a software tool written at work?

I'm working on a software problem at work that is fairly generic, but I can't find a library I like to solve it, so I'm considering writing one myself (at least a bare-bones version). I'll be writing some if not all of the 1.0 version at work,…
AlexMA
  • 591
18
votes
5 answers

Found a better solution to a problem at work - should I deter from posting the code snippet online?

I think most of us, programmers, used Stack Overflow to solve every day problems: looked for an efficient algorithm to do something. Now imagine a situation: you have a problem to solve. Googled a bit, found a StackOverflow question but you are not…
Calmarius
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12
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3 answers

What happens if I do not explicitly state "This program comes with absolutely no warranty"?

And lets say, my application is a simple feed reader. Does my app really have to include the no warranty notice?
Pouria
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10
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6 answers

What legal considerations do I need to have when programming?

Recently I worked with a group to create a logging system for tutoring labs to track Tutor hours, and usage of the labs. We had to change the design a fair amount to be in compliance with FERPA. My question stems from the curiosity that in my…
harrjs
  • 189
7
votes
7 answers

What part of your work does a company own when you program for them?

Say you're a software engineer, what does the company actually own of your work? Do they own the source code, the binary, both? What about code you do outside of the workplace? Do they have any claim to that? I was just wondering from a legal…
AngryBird
  • 1,805
6
votes
10 answers

Legal proof of when a feature been implemented

For various reasons I need to supply "proof" my company's lawyer that I implemented a feature by a certain date. I have used source control since the late 90s and even the oldest databases are still working. I also have the all the old setups. Our…
RS Conley
  • 193
6
votes
3 answers

Is donationware non-commercial?

I use quite some "non-commercial" applications when working on software projects. For clarification, I mean developing applications here, for example smartgit, not libraries or anything that gets shipped. Is it legal to provide a donation button for…
orlp
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5
votes
3 answers

How does one minimize or prevent User lawsuits?

I work in a bunch of tools that do things to customer's computers. Some of these tools allow scripting, which allows someone to run a script to nuke files, registry keys, or the like. Of course, if the script is bad, or if there's a serious bug in…
Billy ONeal
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3
votes
5 answers

Am I competing with a client? is it fair?

I've been working as part of my service company for a client (ClientA) for a year now on building a platform. A few weeks ago another client (clientB) asked me for a quote for building a similar product. I said to clientB that we have been working…
clide313
  • 139
3
votes
1 answer

What are the legal requirements for verifying a user's age? (United States)

I'm working on a website where we expect many of our users to be under 18. Our lawyer told us that anyone under 18 will need their parents to agree to the Terms of Service, since they aren't legally able to do it themselves. So my question is,…
declan
  • 249
2
votes
6 answers

Is Tracking Software Usage Illegal?

Let's say if I am doing desktop application, and I am interested to know whether our software really gets used or not. Is it alright to insert in code that tracks whether our software is used, for how long and so on? Note that no person-identifiable…
Graviton
  • 4,005
2
votes
5 answers

Is TOS Necessary?

Let us say that someone is hosting a web application where others can come and register and use for free(like stackoverflow or stackexchange). Is a terms of service agreement necessary? Like this TOS for stackexchange ? If there is no TOS agreement,…
Can't Tell
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1
vote
0 answers

How to include licences in commercial software

I work for a commercial organisation that produces closed source paid-for software. We have a legal department and we are currently getting them to help us comply with the terms of the open source licenses for the libraries we are using (MIT, BSD,…
satnhak
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1
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