Only problem is, if while doing the work the developers were told their work isn't going to be entirely paid for they would have chosen to do something else.
You write a book and would be paid by the word. After toiling away for 2 years, 30% of your work will not be paid for because the publishers feel this is just information.
You have been decived.
When labor is carried out with certain promises of compensation and after the work is completed if the fruits of the labor are not compensated to the person company doing the effort then it's fraud / stealing.
Broadly your argument sounds like 'knowledge work is not real work' because it doesn't produce tangible assets.
You write a book and would be paid by the word. After toiling away for 2 years, 30% of your work will not be paid for because the publishers feel this is just information. You have been decived.
When labor is carried out with certain promises of compensation and after the work is completed if the fruits of the labor are not compensated to the person company doing the effort then it's fraud / stealing.
Broadly your argument sounds like 'knowledge work is not real work' because it doesn't produce tangible assets.