Copyright question

[hammerman]

here's one for you. My friend's 13 year old son has written a computer game from scratch whilst in a lesson at school. The game was so good that a sponsor is now paying the school money for use of the game.

I don't know what the sponsor is doing with this game or who the sponsor is. No credits have been given to this lad either.

Any idea if this is right or does anything produced within the school remain property of the school.

Ta muchly

HM

[beegeebee]

If it's his own design/invention and not an add on to something else the Copyright has to be his and NO one can take that from him.

[Old_Geezer]

Whilst I am no expert I can not think of anything I've created on my employer's premises that I retained any right to. The employer always benefited. You say it is different on school premises ?

[Canary42]

In business, any software written by the employees belongs to the Company (I actually saw an example of this when a guy tried to market a suite he had written - the employer forbade it).
I would imagine a school would be the same, but failing to give the lad any credit is really mean.

[Jonathan-Joe]

The employer's claim to copyright / intellectual rights may lie in the fact that they paid for the time spent developing an idea. There's no contract between school and pupil comparable to the contract of employment.
I'm not a lawyer, but a quick look at this document http://www.school-por...16&ResourceId=3438107 gives hope that the pupil retains copyright in work produced at school.

[grffindoor2011]

A few years ago I designed an accounting package for the employer I was working for. I copyrighted it everywhere including by hidden watermarks and a backdoor method. Although the employer said that I had been paid as part of normal working salary, I threatened to see a solicitor. I ended up with about 1k for 'extra services'.

I hope the young lad gets the recognition he deserves. I would certainly keep a close eye on it and ask the school who the sponsor is and contact them. You wouldn't want a situation where the game goes viral and it is only the school that profits.

Did you sign anything to say that it was ok for a sponsor to become involved and could use the game whilst the school milked the residuals?