Re: Ownership of work?

[David.X.Kahn@xxxxxxx]

Chris wrote:

> The guy who owns the work is the one with the better lawyer.

Sounds like the right answer. David, at the very least your friend should
get a written opinion from an attorney who specialises in employment law,
but as Chris points out that opinion is only worth your friend's ability to
act on it.

If your friend has come up with something really valuable, probably the
only safe way to ensure that (s)he will be free to exploit it is this.

  1. Disclose absolutely nothing about it, not even "I've got a really
great idea for...".
  2. Destroy all traces of any work done to date including documentation,
source code,
    back-ups, scribbles on the backs of envelopes - the lot.
  3. Resign.
  4. Once unemployed, self-employed, or burger flipping build the product
again starting
     from scratch.
  5. Make sure there is an audit trail so that you friend can prove (s)he
followed step 4 and
    that it all took place after parting from the company.

I know this is not the answer your friend wants to hear but if it's not
worth going to these lengths then it probably isn't worth arguing over the
contract anyway. IANAL either so it's probably worth running my idea past
the attorney as well.

Dave...
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