QNX Port

[Robert Dewar]

<<This last item involves trade secret, not copyright.  But it wouldn't seem
to apply in this case.
>>

Actually, it is (surprisingly) not that simple. A copyright violation requires
access and actual copying. Now for normal copyright, the item is published,
so everyone has potential access.

But (a very annoying distortion, but that's another discussion), in the
case of source programs for computers, you can copyright without publishing
(e.g. Microsoft's source code for XP is copyrgited, but secret). This means
that access is a different issue, and if you have worked with/for a company
and had access to secret sources, then you have access in the copyright 
sense, and if you reproduce this code, you may indeed be committing a
copyright violation.

This is not just a theory, there are lots of cases (including two that I
have been directly involved with), where such inside access lead to
allegations of copyright infringement.

The moral is, be very careful to make sure that all possibly interested
parties are represented when it comes to copyright assignments. Wehn in
doubt, include rather than exclude.