licensing authorship
source code authorship laws
<p>Please advise me with the following three situations:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>situation one - There are two programmers employed by a company. One writes a source code of a computer program. Can the second one edit it? (modify the source code)</p>
</li>
<li><p>situation two - A person A hires a programmer to write a source code of a computer program, the programmer is hired only for that one particular job. After the work is done and payment is provided, can the person A modify the source code that the mentioned programmer wrote?</p>
</li>
<li><p>situation three - A person B owns 100% shares of a legal entity. This legal entity bought authorship, copyright or license to a source code of a computer program, written by a programmer. Can person B modify the source code or does he/she has to buy it from the legal entity that they own 100% shares of?</p>
</li>
</ol>

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<blockquote>
<p>There are two programmers employed by a company. One writes a source code of a computer program. Can the second one edit it? (modify the source code)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If these are regular preferment employees, then the code will be a work-made-for-hire (WFH) unless they have a contract that says otherwise.  In that case the employer will be legally the &quot;author&quot; under US law (many other countries do not take this position) and the copyright will be owned by the employer. The employer can therefore authorize anyone to edit or otherwise use the code.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A person A hires a programmer to write a source code of a computer program, the programmer is hired only for that one particular job. After the work is done and payment is provided, can the person A modify the source code that the mentioned programmer wrote?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This depends entirely on the agreement between the coder and the employer. The code will not be a WFH unless a written contract explicitly says so, and such a work would probably not qualify as a WFH even if a contract says so, because only certain types of work may be WFH from a contractor.  But the contract could transfer the copyright to the client (employer), or grant the client an extensive and long0-term license which includes the right to create derivative works. In either case the client may make, or authorize others to make, changes to the code without further permission from the coder. If the agreement did not convey such rights, the client would need separate permission for such changes.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A person B owns 100% shares of a legal entity. This legal entity bought authorship, copyright or license to a source code of a computer program, written by a programmer. Can person B modify the source code or does he/she has to buy it from the legal entity that they own 100% shares of?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If the legal entity owns the copyright, or has obtained a license which permits code modifications, it may authorize anyone to make such modifications, including the owner of the entity. No separate &quot;sale&quot; or payment is needed.</p>
<p>One cannot &quot;buy authorship&quot; except by making the work a WFH, and that is not always possible. But one may buy the copyright, or a license giving extensive and long-term rights, including the right to create derivative works or modified versions.</p>
<h2>Source Code</h2>
<p>There is nothing in any of this that is specific to source code. The same rules would apply if the work in question were a technical manual, a novel,  a work of graphic art, or any other &quot;original work of authorship&quot;. The only difference would be whether the work is one of the types for which a contract may create a WFH arrangement. And even that would only matter if there was an explicit contract purporting to make the work a WFH.</p>
