Questions regarding all matters related to ownership and rights to intangible assets such as art, software, designs, etc.
1
vote
3answers
173 views
Obfuscating work for freelancers
I'm working on starting a small consultancy where I'm the head honcho for managing ideas, tasks, projects, clients, and workers. I want to use ultra cheap random Internet freelancers as much as ...
-1
votes
2answers
64 views
Copying content from old versions of a software of another company - possible without trobles?
I know that onces a software company makes any software, the aesthetic look and UI look of that software is automatically copyrighted, and thus any other company (read I) cannot copy it.
Anyhow, what ...
0
votes
1answer
85 views
Is dominoes game public domain
I'm contemplating writing an Android version of the dominoes game which I'll release in Google Play and I wondered if there's a chance of committing a copyright infringement by doing so.
I did a ...
0
votes
0answers
16 views
Can I use company logos for my game? [duplicate]
I was wondering if I had permission to use company logos without the companies' permission in a logo quiz game. I'll make sure to specify that the logos are copyright their respective owners. If the ...
4
votes
2answers
229 views
How do I prove that its all my IP
I'm involved in a deal where an industry organization is attempting to white label my software. Their Chairperson is a lawyer, so they are cautious on the legal stuff. They want to be absolutely sure ...
1
vote
2answers
47 views
Developing a product/service as a result of requirements of existing employer
A is currently employed at company X which in turn is a vendor for company Z. A realized that certain aspects of running the business for Z which X is failing at can be productized/offered as a ...
7
votes
6answers
372 views
Sticky IP situation
We are in a sticky situation, that is no ones fault but our own. We had approached a developer to join our startup. After showing him the project he was excited and decided to join. Our mistake was ...
0
votes
3answers
142 views
How much equity should I give investors
I am seeking a $2M investment to take my patented product to next level. I have been told my product is unique and can be used in a variety of industries by both commercial and residential users. ...
12
votes
1answer
339 views
There's a troll in my space - now what?
I've spent the last 3 months full-time building an alpha version of a web app, and developing a business plan for it. The alpha version is ready to launch. Recently I've stumbled upon the fact that ...
1
vote
2answers
116 views
building an application at work, want to spin it into a business
I am building a custom sales portal at my place of employment, a large company. I would like to start a saas business that uses the same features I am building for the custom project at work. I want ...
3
votes
1answer
65 views
Research if patent holder is a troll
I've recently discovered a patent for a product that's in the field of the product I'm working on. The patent itself has zero direct resemblance to the product I'm working on, but there are "early ...
1
vote
2answers
59 views
Who owns the Intellectual Property, Copyright and Patents created by Technical Co Founder?
I will be joining a new start-up as a technical partner. Other two partners are business administration role.
I will be the one who will program everything from scratch and build the new web based ...
1
vote
1answer
23 views
Can I resubmit under my company an abandon patent that was under my name?
If I submitted a patent under my personal name and it was abandoned, can I later resubmit or rather submit it under my company name?
1
vote
2answers
37 views
Implementation partners-protecting source code
I have an existing SAAS platform and I am in the process of working with multiple implementation partners or vendors for some enhancements. How do I make sure my source code is protected? Some of ...
1
vote
2answers
77 views
Can a Greek letter be trademarked (for use within the scope of a particular service offering)?
Let's say we offer an approach to better dental hygiene and we call it the change™ dental hygiene solution and we represent our change™ solution with the Greek delta (Δ) symbol. Hence, we might also ...
2
votes
2answers
117 views
Software Contributions to a LLC Partnership
I have a 33.33% stake in an LLC partnership, which was made with cash contributions. I have since developed software with an associate who is not part of the company that we would like to sell as ...
1
vote
2answers
43 views
Contract employee and IP in a not so related business
If I create an application for a client and I am employed as a contactor to the client by a contracting firm in a different capacity, who owns the copyright?
0
votes
3answers
122 views
Does the company own all my ideas?
A company has the following contract.
http://www.uploadimage.in/di/93QO/one.png
http://www.uploadimage.in/di/N8UR/two.png
Does this mean if one is working on something in their free time while ...
0
votes
2answers
38 views
How can one establish authorship of content?
For a startup creating content for syndication, what is an effective way to establish that the content was indeed created by the startup and not those receiving it?
For example, one could print out ...
1
vote
2answers
75 views
Does generic use of a trademarked term (e.g., Klout) constitute infringement?
My understanding is that trademarks afford protection when used as an adjective to represent goods or services, but they do not afford protection for generic usage of a trademarked term and only ...
1
vote
3answers
83 views
How should we compensate a non-founder in a new web-based business who is critical to the launch of the business?
We are in the very early stage of organizing and launching a new web-based business. There are two co-founders - one who is CTO and one who is CEO. In addition, we will be including a third person ...
5
votes
4answers
762 views
How Do I Prevent Somone From Stealing My Idea On KickStart
I have a great idea for a new product and I am thinking about launching it on Kickstarter, but I have one major problem. I am afraid that someone will steal my product and/or accuse me of stealing ...
0
votes
1answer
173 views
What percentage to give UI/UX designer co-founder? [duplicate]
This is a general question for company shares:
My partner and I have an equal stake in our company. We want to bring in a designer since both of us suck at UI. We have one in mind.
Since we own the ...
1
vote
2answers
99 views
Is an open source prototype a bad idea?
I'm building a prototype for a web/mobile application. The goal is to collect user generated content, let user rate it while at the same time being entertained and do something interesting with it. If ...
0
votes
1answer
53 views
Legal issues of a user-pic based app?
I'm planning on creating a mobile app based upon the idea of allowing users to take self-portraits and having it shared in a dynamic public gallery (for say, dating purposes, or whatnot). Let's also ...
3
votes
3answers
236 views
Is consulting work subject to my day-job's intellectual-property clause?
Disclaimer: I'm not seeking legal advice here, I will naturally seek actual legal advice before I make any decisions. I'd just like to know the lay of the land, if anyone can help.
I'm in the ...
3
votes
2answers
96 views
Acquiring IP from liquidators
Over 3 years ago the development company I was working for went into liquidation owing ~$500K.
There wasn't a lot gained from the sale of the assets and as far as I am aware, the liquidators still ...
0
votes
1answer
77 views
Legal implications of selling board game mods & accessories for existing games?
I am looking to create, manufacture and sell modifications for existing board games that other people have made.
Purely as an example: I might create a new set of tokens to be used with the ...
0
votes
1answer
96 views
How should I protect myself from intellectual property theft before I pitch this game to Scopely?
(For the impatient, the main question is at the bottom of this text.)
I was reading this article and a couple of others about Scopely, a game development company responsible for the creation of the ...
4
votes
3answers
203 views
If you are a creative studio, who owns employees ideas that they come up with whilst in your employ?
We are a creative studio who depend on new ideas and new IP to survive. Many of our staff (naturally) are quite creative as well, and as such don't want their best ideas taken by the studio - where ...
2
votes
2answers
183 views
Terms of agreement with a co-founder after split-up
I recently quit working with my co-founder. We had started a software business together and had agreed on a certain profit share. But shortly after the launch of the apps, we had to split because he ...
0
votes
2answers
189 views
Is internship considered as “work-for-hire” in the US? Who owns the software intellectual property rights created by an intern with no contract?
I was an intern in a small furniture company for over year where I had an idea to develop an integrated software solution that would help any company of the same type get organized. A verbal agreement ...
0
votes
2answers
385 views
What is the law covering the intellectual property rights of software developed during internship/employment without signed contract/agreement?
I am a software engineer who "invented", and developed alone an integrated ERP software solution over the past 2 years. I got the idea and coded much of the software as intern at small wholesale ...
4
votes
1answer
220 views
Should I get investors to sign an NDA before sharing my idea?
I have an idea for a company and I want to share it with potential investors. I'm a bit concerned about my ability to protect the idea. Should I get them to sign an NDA? Would that scare investors ...
2
votes
1answer
268 views
Employer permission agreement to do contract programming work in spare time
I'm in discussions with a programmer to do contract work for my startup. He works full time programming at a Massachusetts company whose business is unrelated to mine and my project would be done in ...
4
votes
3answers
169 views
How Much should I except to spend registering Intellectual Property patent?
I know it might vary depending of kind of product.
I'm planning to register a very unique Intellectual Property internet service patent
Let's suppose the world doesn't have search engine yet, and I ...
2
votes
1answer
89 views
On working with consultants
I have been asked by many startups to help them with their core machine learning IP
Unlike outsourced software development, machine learning is difficult to outsource or even to specify because it ...
4
votes
2answers
189 views
Employee who contracted programmer to complete project. Who owns intellectual property?
I was hired as an employee to integrate data which initially no projects existed that required programming. It became clear that the method needed to complete one project was going to require some ...
8
votes
3answers
395 views
Somebody got a trademark for a domain I own. I am planning to launch my service in a week
I have a domain name, (lets call it XYZ.com) which I have owned for about an year and a related service that I have been developing for about an year too. I just searched the trademark database, and ...
0
votes
2answers
93 views
What things an entrepreneur should get copyrighted before approaching VCs
What things can be copyrighted of a startup before approaching VCs? I have a very fast growing online venture for which I am going to approach VCs. But I want to make sure they can't use my idea and ...
3
votes
1answer
188 views
How have University IP licensing terms for tech startups changed since Google licensed PageRank from Stanford?
What were the details of the IP licensing agreement between Google and Stanford for PageRank?
For example, what PERCENTAGE equity and royalty rate did Google give to Stanford? Were there ...
6
votes
5answers
403 views
Startup project - hide from employer or cooperate with him?
I am a software developer. I have a good idea and I'd like to create a startup. I am planning to invite one or two of my colleagues as co-founders.
I am concerned about the relationships with my ...
1
vote
2answers
125 views
Am I worrying too much about my IP?
I've spent the better part of the last several years developing a product/algorithm, and although I lack the time/funds to do an exhaustive patent search, I'm 99.99% certain that the algorithm is ...
1
vote
5answers
223 views
Protecting works for being able to prove later “I've done this on this date”
How to protect digitalized works for later prove we've had this and that on that date ?
Example: John Doe wants to protect his works on 2011 to be able to prove in future (let's say 2022) that he has ...
1
vote
1answer
74 views
Whose property is the product?
I recently entered a government founded start-up that was planning a major switch in the product (after I entered we started doing a completely new product indeed). Each person in the project has a ...
0
votes
0answers
74 views
How to specify, describe external external project in agreement with Employer? For example in agreement for doing project in spare time? [closed]
Assuming employee (software developer), would like to make an agreement with employer about doing some external project (software) in spare time.
Problem of doing projects in spare time is mentioned ...
3
votes
1answer
215 views
Example of Agreement (template) with Company for doing stuff in spare time
According to related topic:
If I'm working at a company, do they have intellectual property rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
(and related : Intellectual Property and Side-Projects in ...
0
votes
2answers
46 views
Intellectual property evaluation
How do I get my intellectual property evaluated?
I have a framework and a software code for a project I am working on.
I talked to a lawyer, with a proper value tag he said that I can invest in a ...
2
votes
3answers
128 views
Protection Help Bringing a Social-Media Platform to Indiegogo
I'm a 19 year old Canadian, and I've created a unique platform in regards to social media. I'm currently alone in this project and I feel the need to hold it close to me; as I've heard horror stories ...
3
votes
3answers
124 views
Technology Accelerator or Bootstrapping
I have a few ideas for a company, and plan to get started sometime this fall. I know of an accelerator that focuses on this vertical, and I have contacts there so reaching out to them would be pretty ...
