工作之餘加班加點開發的項目被MD5“奪走”，兩年訴訟終失敗

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在家裏花業餘時間開發的軟件"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"今年年初，英國的一名開發人員在與數字取證公司MD5的軟件所有權"},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2021\/02\/17\/md5_software_lawsuit","title":"xxx","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"爭奪戰"}]},{"type":"text","text":"中敗訴。該軟件是他在這家公司任職期間編寫的。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"該名開發人員叫Michael Penhallurick，他聲稱在爲MD5工作期間，在家裏利用業餘時間從事“虛擬取證計算”（"},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/vfc.uk.com\/","title":"xxx","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"VFC"}]},{"type":"text","text":"）軟件的開發，並且他保留了軟件的版權所有權，只是將其授權給了該公司。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"然而，MD5則聲稱，編寫這款軟件是公司與Penhallurick僱用關係的基本組成部分，也是爲什麼他每月可以獲得5000英鎊的酬勞，因爲這個原因和其他一些因素（比如他籤的協議），MD5擁有了這份代碼。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"該軟件主要供警方使用，讓調查人員可以從繳獲的硬盤中提取文件，並在虛擬機上查看，因此可以避免更改硬盤上的任何證據。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"位於英國倫敦的知識產權企業法院在判決中"},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.bailii.org\/ew\/cases\/EWHC\/IPEC\/2021\/293.html","title":"xxx","type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"支持了MD5"}]},{"type":"text","text":"，Richard Hacon法官指出，MD5和Penhallurick簽署的一份合同實際上賦予了MD5對其發佈和出售的軟件的所有權。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Penhallurick是一名前南約克郡警察，他說他的僱傭合同涉及到他在取證方面的專業知識，他最初被僱傭就是基於這一點。按照他的說法，他受聘“協助完成警方提供給MD5的案件取證工作，主要職責是進行取證電腦調查、準備證人供詞、出庭和提供證據。”他還指出，"},{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"strong"}],"text":"他是在家裏，花了很多業餘時間，在自家的電腦上開發了這個軟件。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"與此同時，MD5則辯稱，Penhallurick的職責“比這更靈活、更廣泛”，而法官指出：“MD5進一步表明，如果Penhallurick先生是在入職前創建了任何VFC軟件，那麼它就不屬於爲MD5創建的VFC軟件的一部分。”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"合同即法律"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"法官判定，事實是，每個人都知道Penhallurick在開發VFC軟件，他創建了多個改進和增強版本，MD5把這些版本出售，並付給程序員銷售提成。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Penhallurick於2005年開始開發VFC，這是基於3年前他在克蘭菲爾德大學（Cranfield University）攻讀碩士期間進行的研究，他在2001年就已瞭解了VMware及其虛擬化工具。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"當見到MD5的經理時，他概要介紹了他用來提取文件並在虛擬環境中進行查看的手工方法，並與MD5達成一致，開發可以自動執行該任務的軟件，他也這樣做了。他在2006年底加入了這個公司，到第二年，MD5就開始向客戶銷售VFC。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"但在軟件最終歸誰所有的問題上，雙方存在明顯的分歧。MD5認爲自己擁有所有權，他們給Penhallurick發工資，並將銷售收入的一部分作爲報酬；Penhallurick覺得最終他還是這個軟件的主人。這種分歧使得Penhallurick和MD5在2008年簽訂了一份合同。根據合同規定，MD5向Penhallurick發放VFC年度銷售額7.5%的獎金。2011年，雙方又達成了進一步的協議，將獎金額提高至10%——Penhallurick認爲，這支付的是許可費，而不是獎金。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"關鍵是，儘管Penhallurick堅稱他是把軟件授權給MD5，但在案件審理過程中，沒有證據表明存在這樣的授權協議。與此同時，在與該應用程序綁定的最終用戶許可協議中，MD5是許可方，Penhallurick已經認可了這種說法。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"法官指出，這些合同沒有一份是由律師起草的，留下了一些模棱兩可的內容，最終導致了訴訟。他覺得，"},{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"strong"}],"text":"從多年來簽署的各種文件中，可以很明顯地看出，是MD5僱傭程序員開發並更新這款軟件，該公司從第一個官方版本開始就擁有版權。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"2016年Penhallurick辭職，2018年1月，MD5停止向他支付代碼費用，他們的關係徹底破裂了。這場爭論卻變得更加激烈，MD5指控Penhallurick在離開公司時留下的是刪除了某些功能的第三版軟件，而且據稱Penhallurick告訴第三方，MD5沒有該軟件的版權。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"但這些爭議在法院的裁決中基本上被忽略了。在7月份的一場聽證會之後，法院於2月15日公佈了裁決結果，裁定MD5擁有已發佈和售出的軟件，並已向Penhallurick支付了費用，僅此而已。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"這給所有軟件開發人員上了有益的一課：如果你在做一個“個人項目”，務必檢查下你的僱傭合同和員工權利，以確保你的工作成果最終不屬於你的老闆。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"開發者的業餘項目算誰的？"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"相信大家對Nginx之父Igor Sysoev被捕一案或多或少還有印象，當時Sysoev的老東家 Rambler 聲稱：Nginx 是 Sysoev 在 Rambler 公司任職期間開發的，所有權也應該是公司的。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"事件發生時，同樣在網絡上引發了熱烈討論——開發者利用業餘時間編寫的軟件到底屬於誰？不同人有不同的觀點。目前沒有明確的統一的法律來判定，只是，員工和僱主一旦出現分歧，“視合同而定”的確是最有效的判斷方式。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"值得一提的是，從一個業餘項目發展成爲大公司的案例不在少數。Dropbox 的創始人 Drew Houston 在做 Dropbox 的時候任職於一家初創公司 Bit9，並曾表示“一些工作是在 Bit9 的辦公室完成的”。辭職時他諮詢了律師並得到了簽名信，以表明 Bit9 在 Dropbox 中沒有任何股權、所有權。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"陳士駿是 Facebook 前 15 號員工，在臉書上班的時候消失了一段時間，回來工作後立刻辭職。離開臉書後，他創辦了 YouTube。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"程序員的業餘項目，有助於提高員工自身能力的全面發展，也能一定程度的避免職業倦怠。有的公司對此持鼓勵態度，比如微軟有 moonlight 計劃，支持員工業餘做自己的項目，只要符合一定的要求就行，比如不能使用公司資產，不能與公司現有產品競爭以及不能有利益衝突等。作爲員工，只要你別太過分，僱主一般不會糾結於你業餘做了什麼。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"但將業餘項目做大的開發者，還是會面臨一些風險。項目吸引力越大，風險越大。當大企業訴諸法庭時，靠拖都能拖垮一家小企業。因此，開發者應該好好關注任職期間跟公司簽約的合同上是否有明確說明“企業擁有員工在所有時間、所有地點所作出的所有項目的擁有權”。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"那麼，業餘項目究竟屬於開發者個人，還是屬於開發者所在的企業呢？你留意過你的企業有這樣的明文規定嗎？如果是你遇到類似的情況，你會怎麼做？"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}],"text":"參考鏈接："},{"type":"link","attrs":{"href":"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2021\/02\/17\/md5_software_lawsuit","title":null,"type":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"UK dev loses ownership claim on forensic software he said he wrote in spare time and licensed to employer"}],"marks":[{"type":"color","attrs":{"color":"#494949","name":"user"}}]}]}]}