Obviously the Developer Exchange is a new and fresh approach to allowing customers and developers to communicate and interact with our engineers and technical community. As such, we really expect this to be a big success, but understandably there are certain folks who are concerned. We have worked very closely with legal to ensure we have what we believe is a reasonable Terms of Use (TOU) for the site, and reasonable guidance for our contributors.

Since you will be publishing potential intellectual property or assets on the site, always think hard about whether you have the rights to do so and whether this is beneficial for the company.

Some words from our friendly lawyers

Please make sure you must read this section. In fact, it's a requirement!

Teradata is a technology company whose lifeblood are the products and services we deliver, and the key driver of value for us is the intellectual property we create and embody in those products and services. Teradata must also honor its duties to protect the IP rights of its customers, partners, vendors and other business associates. As you post content to the Developers Exchange and engage in discussion there, BE VERY CAREFUL in choosing what to post, and note that:

1. The default IP setting in the TOU is dedication to the public domain of all content posted to the site. Generally, when releasing source code or code snippets you are required to get approval in accordance with the Distribution of Human Readable Teradata Code process. However, the Developer Exchange has a blanket approval for all distribution at the site. This means you must be extra careful when posting something. If you are at all in doubt, check with your management.
2. If there is content that is not to be dedicated to the public domain but is approved for posting to the website, be sure that the following occurs: (1) for Teradata content (such as downloadable software), be sure the user has to click through an agreement (an example of Specific Terms of Use) that has the IP and licensing terms we want to apply to that content, or (2) for third party open source content, be sure that the appropriate notices accompany the content as well as any other requirements imposed by the open source license. No other third party, non-public domain content should be on the website without Legal determining our right to post such content and creating the appropriate click through agreement.
3. On Confidential Information: Do not post or share any information that is confidential to Teradata or to any third party with whom we do business, including our customers and partners. In some cases, an item will contain both confidential information and useful content that is not confidential. If we own the item and you can "cleanse" the item in a way that none of the confidential information can be gleaned upon reading or viewing the non-confidential information, then it is probably okay to post the cleansed item. Under no circumstances, though, should you share the confidential information of any party. If you are uncertain whether information is confidential, contact the owner of the information or Legal for help. Keep in mind too that not all confidential information is marked that way - if you have reason to suspect that the information is meant to be confidential, treat it as such until you have confirmed otherwise. Also, if you are ever concerned that confidential information might have been shared through the site, whether by you or by someone else, please let the site administrator know immediately.
   And take care not to make freely available any information, document, material, etc., for which Teradata typically restricts access or derives revenue. A list of examples of such items is given here.
4. On Copyrighted Material: Do not post or deliver any content in which some other party owns the copyright. Violation of copyright laws carries the potential for both criminal and civil penalties, and both the individual and Teradata can be held responsible. Again, if you have any doubts or concerns about the material you would like to share, contact the IP Section within Legal.
5. On Patentable Inventions: Be careful in sharing information that describes any feature/functionality that might be a candidate for patent protection. Teradata can lose patent rights by saying too much too early about product or service features (including "products" such as LDMs and PS methodologies). If you have any doubt about whether patent rights might be implicated, contact the IP Section within Legal for help.