Apple Claims Ownership of Shareware 759
(54)T-Dub writes "Cricket Media recently released 'Netflix Fanatic', an OSX based shareware app that lets you manage your rental queue without logging on to Netflix. An article on Think Secret reveals the reason behind it's mysterious disappearance. Apparently the developer's employer, Apple, has claimed ownership over the application's name and source code. The developer claims that under Section 2870 of the California Labor Code this is illegal. The law states that if a company has an employment agreement with provisions saying employees must assign the rights of their inventions to their employer, those sections do not apply if the employee developed it on his or her own time, without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information. Within Apple, there's unsubstantiated speculation that Apple wants to include the Netflix Fanatic code in a new version of Sherlock." Also, they're presumably not too worried with employee morale.
Order Frenzy (Score:3, Funny)
I, For One, (Score:4, Funny)
Now, what's the article about again?
Re:Apple, what's your problem? (Score:5, Funny)
Developer: "What do you mean?... oh.."
Re:How long... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Apple, what's your problem? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Misleading article title (Score:4, Funny)
Hang out at ZDNet. You'll get used to it. You'll also get used to headlines that have no scientifically measureable relation to the stories beneath them.
Re:Shocking... (Score:3, Funny)
So, let's all rant and rave for 500 messages. Then, in 3 days, the real story will come out and be the complete opposite. And it won't ever be mentioned again on slashdot.
Hurry, we only have three days! Unless of course the article gets reposted, which should buy us at least one more day of ranting before the truth comes out.
And so... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Shocking... (Score:4, Funny)
Snotty-overpriced-hardware-buying-nouveau-art-deco -loving-yuppie scumbag. But hey, I can say that since I'm a Mac user too. :-)
It's Tuesday... (Score:3, Funny)
I half expect to see a post praising Sony in a couple of hours--wait, no, Sony's only good on Tuesday afternoon in odd months. My error.
Re:Program under a psudoname (Score:2, Funny)
And they are only going to support it in 10.4... (Score:1, Funny)
Needless to say, Jobs noticed the guy eavesdropping, and immediately hired him to work on an up-and-coming Apple branded PDA/cell phone...
Re:Slavery? (Score:3, Funny)
I suppose that if you're worried about your employer getting your code, you could always get a job where you ask, "Would you like fries with that?"
Re:Are they psychic? (Score:3, Funny)
Until you book 500 hours retrospectively on your timesheet and book it to the budget of whoever claimed the project...
If a worse analogy exists... (Score:4, Funny)