State Trooper fights for his Source Code

BarneyRabble writes: "An article in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinal tells the story of a Wisconsin State Trooper from Oconto Falls who is being forced to give up the source code to a program that he wrote that assists in the distribution of traffic tickets by also adding any other criminal information.

"Eighteen months ago, the State Patrol praised trooper David Meredith for going beyond the call of duty by developing time-saving software that helps officers write traffic tickets electronically."

"Meredith is credited for accomplishing more in one year than software companies have in five years," the State Patrol said in a press release in May 2005, when Meredith received a special honor for his work on the software.

Now, he is suing the head of the patrol, saying the state is trying to illegally seize the source code to software he developed on his own time and had hoped to market.

But the State Patrol argues that Meredith never owned the program because his bosses directed him to write it while he was on the clock. Plus, the state says it is barred by contract from developing it commercially"

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=552682 "