Most programmer's contracts state explicitly that the company paying the bills. own the code. In many, it goes even further, in that not only do they own the code you produce whilst on the clock for them. They also lay claim to ownership of any code you produce on your own time whilst the contract is in force. I didn't read the article, but if his attitude is as you describe it, he'll simply stop getting work.

Note: There's no judgement on my behalf in the above to the rights or wrongs of the situation. It is just how it is.

But for contrast: A musician spends say 3 months recording an album. They then (can) just sit back and do nothing and expect to be paid for every album sold; and every public performance of their work. Hell. They even expect to be paid (again) if a some 2-bit mom&pop cafe or workshop let's its employees listen to the radio and their song is played. Despite that the radio station has already paid.

Or authors: Take a year to write a book. Do nothing more, and expect to be paid for every copy sold for something like 25(?) years.

Is what programmers do worth so much less than writers and musicians? I'm not saying that programmers should be paid like rock stars (Hell. Not even rock stars should be paid like rock stars:). And I guess "software" in the widest sense of the word has its rock stars. From Larry & Sergey on down. But somehow, the top-heaviness of the pay scales for programmers, seems even more obscene than for musicians.

And at the other end of the scale, we have programmers encouraging other programmers, to take second mortgages on their homes and families, in order to pour their heart & souls in to producing software, that they, (the first group), will then want for free.