# State trooper lays claim to software he developed



## newsnut (Jan 10, 2006)

*State Trooper Develops Ticket-Writing Program; State Tries to Take Source*

*In the line of duty? * *State trooper lays claim to software he developed*

*By PATRICK MARLEY
[email protected]*

*Posted: Jan. 14, 2007*

*Madison - *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.
The dispute erupted after Meredith told his bosses last year that he wanted to sell the product to other law enforcement agencies.

"These people are trying to steal it (from Meredith), there's no nice way to put it," said Glen Jones, president of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Association, the union that represents troopers.

Meredith, of Oconto Falls, defied an order from his bosses to relinquish the source code - the heart of the program - in October and instead deposited it with Dane County Circuit Judge David T. Flanagan, pending a ruling on who should control it.
*Dispute over timing of work*

The case centers on how the software was developed. Department of Transportation attorney Mike Kernats said the State Patrol - a division of DOT - provided Meredith with a computer to write the software and gave him time off patrol duties so he could do the work.

But Meredith said in court filings that he spent hundreds of hours off duty working on it, developing it almost entirely on his own time. He noted that he never signed a software licensing agreement.

Meredith has worked for the State Patrol since 2000, and he earns $45,300 a year before overtime. He declined to comment, and his attorney, Timothy Feeley, did not return phone calls.

In 2003, the state sent Meredith to Iowa to get trained on the Iowa Department of Transportation's Traffic and Criminal Software, or TraCS. Iowa gave Wisconsin the software for free on the condition that Wisconsin not develop the application for commercial purposes, said Kernats.

At the request of his superiors, Meredith tweaked the program so that it would work in Wisconsin and created a way to import driver information and criminal histories into it. The software that imports data saves time and prevents errors, said Jones, the union president.

Meredith's software would likely be worth more than $1 million if it could be marketed, Jones said.

Jones said Meredith's bosses had to know that he was working on the program on his own time because Meredith was spending so much time on patrol writing traffic tickets, leaving little time to work on the program on the clock. Meredith writes 2,000 or more tickets a year, several times what most troopers write, Jones said.

But Kernats, the DOT lawyer, said Meredith was given time at work to develop the software and that the state was unaware of Meredith working on it on his own time.

"If he chooses to do some of this on his own time, that doesn't make this his property," Kernats said.

"You can't take this opportunity to design this computer software and then go out and say, 'It's mine now.' "

In early 2006, Meredith asked permission to market and sell the software while he was off duty, but the State Patrol denied his request on the grounds that Meredith did not own it.

In September, he was ordered to surrender the source code by 4:30 p.m. Oct. 2 or face discipline. At 4:14 p.m. that day, he filed a lawsuit against Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi and State Patrol Superintendent David L. Collins.

Kernats and Jones said privacy laws barred them from saying whether Meredith was punished for not turning in the source code.

Around the time Meredith filed suit, the State Patrol seized a state computer from Meredith's home and ordered his colleagues not to ask him for any computer help, Jones said. Since then, troopers have had problems importing some data, Jones said.

Meredith argues that the state cannot take his property without just compensation under the Wisconsin Constitution. He is asking a judge to declare that he owns the product and can sell it and to order that he does not have to give the source code to the state. He is also seeking payment from the state.

The state said in a November filing that the case should be dismissed because it is a matter of copyright law that should be decided by a federal court instead of a state court.

Meredith declined to be interviewed, saying in an e-mail that he believed he had to get approval from his bosses to talk to the press.

"Regardless, it is probably in my best interest not to give an interview since 'they' can make my life even more miserable than it already is," he wrote.


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## SOT (Jul 30, 2004)

*Re: State Trooper Develops Ticket-Writing Program; State Tries to Take Source*

If he was getting paid for the hours, they own the software. If he did a lot of work on his time, then that's his "bad".


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## dcs2244 (Jan 29, 2004)

*Re: State Trooper Develops Ticket-Writing Program; State Tries to Take Source*

Sounds like the agreement with Iowa throws a wrench into the works..no private marketing. "Tweeking" isn't "creating".

Like SOT said...if he did it on his own time...another "company man" hoist by his own pertard...


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## ryan933 (Oct 3, 2003)

As a reformed software engineer(turned cop)...let me say...

Bottom line is..this guy screwed up. He is lucky his department paid him to work on it at all! He should have arranged to be paid for his off-duty work, or not done it at all.

Based on the article, the facts are these:

He did not "create" anything. He modified an existing product from Iowa. This is what is known in the software world as "open source development." For example, I make a program that does something usefull. I then open the source code to other developers who may have ideas on how to "modify/improve" the program, under the premise the source code is always freely available to all users (non-commercial). If other developers decide to contribute to the project, they understand they do not own the result of their efforts. The work is done for the "greater good" you might say.
*
"In 2003, the state sent Meredith to Iowa to get trained on the Iowa Department of Transportation's Traffic and Criminal Software, or TraCS.* *Iowa gave Wisconsin the software for free on the condition that Wisconsin not develop the application for commercial purposes*, said Kernats.

At the request of his superiors, *Meredith tweaked the program so that it would work in Wisconsin and created a way to import driver information and criminal histories into it.* The software that imports data saves time and prevents errors, said Jones, the union president."


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## CJIS (Mar 12, 2005)

Thanks Gil for fixing the double post and moving this topic to the correct forum.


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