Protecting programming from new programmers

how to protect custom programming

[thinkbig]

Im having a custom site built with very unique niche and I have spent pretty good money on the programming side. The site will be finished next week and we are moving it after beta test to my server.

Once moved my work with the old crew is done as they were too slow for my liking. I want to hire 2 part time programmers and in house them but my question is how do i protect the custom programming (php and mysql work) from the new programmers? Whats to say they dont copy all the code and make mini sites or resell?

Is there a safe way to do this or does every business that needs programmers run the risk of code theft?

[jtara]

Have clear legal agreements, and hire trustworthy people. That's really all you can do.

You can release code to them on a "need to know" basis, but you may not have the technical skills to know what they need to have access to and what they do not. If they are modifying existing code, they probably need access to all of your code.

You can put them on a local server (or network) with no access to the Internet, no disk drives, and no accessible USB ports. They will immediately balk at having no access to the Internet for documentation, so you will have to provide them with a separate machine with Internet access for accessing the web.

I think most programmers, though, would be uncomfortable with that level of distrust on the part of an employer. It's a two-way street.

[henry0]

Before starting with a new client we deeply assess his/her biz, brand and clientele.
Most of the time we are required to sign a NDA
have a good one drafted by your attorney.

[limoshawn]

This is something that I looked into briefly, bonding the new programmers.

You can check around and see if there is a bond company that will bond an employee against theft of intellectual property. You get a couple of birds with one stone going this route. First of all, many times the bonding company will do a history check on the employee prior to bonding them. Any major red flags there and you'll know about it on the bonding company's dime. Secondly, if anything ever does happen the bonding company pays you and they take on the responsibility of tracking down and prosecuting the programmer to get their money.

Just a thought, good luck.

[BananaFish]

If the original programming crew were your employees, the code they produced would be considered a "work for hire". This means that you maintain full rights to the code-base. However, if you contracted the work out, the programmers would hold the copyright to the code-base, unless they specifically assigned you the rights.