John BORIS wrote:
> Brian,
> He had "Copyright by John Doe" but copyright or design I think he really
> wants the recognition but is just isn't sure how to handle this.
Brian is correct. He's given you the very best answer, and you should
communicate this to your young friend. He needs to drop it, now, with
the school, and to understand that placing a "Copyright by John Doe" on
something that was *not* his was inappropriate, at best.
I had a young person working for me that went through a body of code
he'd been given responsibility for, and saw him make those changes. I
was not the kind and gentle person I am now, and I made him change each
and every file back to its original, and then I explained that he was no
longer welcome on the team. If you're getting a paycheck, the copyright
isn't yours (other than by prior, WRITTEN, agreement, and that's oh, so
very rare).
He would be best off to mend fences with the old employer. An apology
might be nice. He's young, and youth is allowed certain mistakes. It's
already been handled poorly (by his placing a stamp of ownership on
something that was not his). He should do what Brian suggested, and take
screen shots. That should be more than enough.
In another comment, you say:
> As to the Web site he told them that he was going to give up the web
> site work in a month and since he wasn't compensated for the initials
> design work he wanted compensation. If he wasn't compensated he was
> pulling his work off the site.
Those kinds of threats tend not to win friends and influence people. If
he'd expected to be compensated, that should have been agreed to ahead
of time. There are people who are suggesting that he should send a bill,
but there was no prior agreement, no contract, and he's just SOL. He
needs to let go and move on. It's unwise to be burning bridges at such a
young age.
The school took nothing away. He had no right to place a copyright on
work he did not own, and the fact that he wasn't paid for that work is
simply a life lesson.
Let it go. Move on. You can't create a contract after the fact, and it
doesn't sound like there was one before.
So it goes.
--
Math *is* thinking.
It's dance for the brain.
It is a meta-skill.
Whiskey T. Foxtrot
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