Re: document ownership/plagiarism (kind of long)

[Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM>]

Stephanie-

What gets put on a company's intranet isn't subject to the same kinds of
legal restraints that apply to public information.  The company paid you
to create it, and it's stored on a company-owned and -maintained
network, so therefore the company owns it and can make whatever rules it
wants. Therefore your department doesn't technically 'own' the
documents.

That said, I can understand how your group would want feedback to come
back to your group if there are problems.  If there is a real reason
that other departments don't want this to happen (they don't want their
people bothering others, they've changed some code or some rules and
don't want your group getting involved in their custom fixes) then it
makes perfect sense for them to use your text and omit your department's
identfying information.  After all, it was created for general use
within the company, wasn't it?

Trying to claim credit for a document is a little like trying to claim
credit for a project that succeeds.  In most companies, your job is to
make your boss look good, and if that means you write a report that goes
out under his/her name, so be it.  Some companies give individuals
credit in the calophons, but most don't.

If you really want your ego stroked by having your name on publications,
I suggest you go talk to major publishers like Prentice Hall, Sybex, and
the like.  I've heard there's some status associated with having your
name on a book.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems

<who has her name on 31 books about software. Big deal>


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