On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 6:03 PM, David Miller <dmil...@tiggee.com> wrote: > From an accounting perspective, every R&D effort that I have seen or > been a part of was not billed to any customer. R&D has always, in my > experience, been an internal charge against a company's own profits.
Hi David, That's called "internal" research and development or "IR&D". It's distinguished from research and prototyping as an exploratory effort under contract to a customer. For example, all grants under organizations like NSF, ONR or DARPA the latter type of R&D. They want to know if something is possible so they pay knowledge domain experts to find out. Or more commonly, the experts submit a proposal that says, "We think this is possible. It would be very good for you if it is. Won't you please pay us to find out?" > As to hourly software development, I have never seen or been a part of a > software development effort where the final work product was not owned > by the entity paying for the hourly development. The contract software > developer can't sell the same software twice because they don't own it > to sell it twice. That depends on the contract. By law, the folks who wrote the software (or the company who paid their salaries) own it. By law, contract != salary. Some contracts specify that the copyrights and other IP will be signed over upon completion. With most of the contracts I've worked, the customer doesn't get the copyright, but I make no claim that's typical. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William D. Herrin ................ her...@dirtside.com b...@herrin.us 3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/> Falls Church, VA 22042-3004
