Legal Question in Technology Law in Georgia

Re: Can a contractor recreate his employer's software at home and resell it on h

As to your own obligations, it is not mandatory that you report this situation to your employer. It is more a question of whether you have greater loyalty to your employer than to your friend.

"Illegal" is probably too strong a concept here, since the legal question is whether a work infringes the copyright of another -- this is not a criminal matter, but rather one that could result in civil liability for damages. Thus, infringement would not be "illegal" but could be actionable.

Depending upon whether the contractor signed a "work for hire" agreement that transferred copyright in the first software work to the employer, either the employer or the contractor owns the copyright. Obviously, if the contractor retained ownership of the copyright, he can create derivative works without infringing upon any copyright of the employer; however, if copyright was vested in the employer, then the subsequent work is likely to be infringing.

Best wishes,

LDWG