Questions regarding all matters related to ownership and rights to intangible assets such as art, software, designs, etc.
1
vote
1answer
109 views
App developed in company time has potential to be sold commercially. Need advise
Situation
I work on the public sector and have developed a web app for internal use to handle a department's business process. The application has been a success according to its users. Some of the ...
4
votes
1answer
155 views
Using a closed company's IP
Over ten years ago I worked at a startup company that no longer exists today. Recently I found some of courses we developed on a CD Rom. They were copied by another employee who gave them to me ...
3
votes
3answers
359 views
Creative solution for copyright infringement by UK university
This question is sort of a follow up to:
Creating non-profit startup from open-source software project
Selling using the honor system
Basically, I'm selling software on the honor system for $5 to ...
1
vote
1answer
95 views
Intellectual Property and Day Jobs
I run a small tech company providing custom web development (in Ontario, Canada), and I have a few clients. However, as I am still a student in university, I have co-op positions that I take every ...
1
vote
3answers
75 views
Where does the rights to the software lies when I've used them in the company?
I've developed an authoring tool for games and also a player that plays them on Android.
One year ago I founded a company with friends and we've published some really cool games by using the engine ...
2
votes
3answers
135 views
Intellectual Property for similar software with 2 different clients
I run a business developing my own software that I license out, but also coding projects for businesses at hourly rate. So clients employ me as a contractor to do this.
Many of these projects are ...
6
votes
1answer
263 views
Our client wants ownership of the code + no competition clause, but we need to re-sell this program in order to make money. How do we compromise?
TL;DR: "A client contracts us to build the engine for Warcraft I, does client have right to stop us using the same engine for let's say.... Skyrim?" (No contracts have been signed YET)
Actual ...
1
vote
1answer
62 views
User Elected Image Copyrights
Environment:
Our project allows teachers to create learning objects (activities, lessons, videos) that may incorporate uploaded images for the purpose of language learning. Our EULA states that ...
2
votes
1answer
144 views
Can we set NewCo's initial valuation at zero?
Background: Company A has developed a software product. Revenue is about $8K per month; margin is about 75% (after royalties). Debt owed to angel and family/friends investors is about $550K. The ...
2
votes
2answers
131 views
Would this idea violate any law?
The idea is this :
My website would just embed videos from various websites like youtube, metacafe, etc.
I want to have users log in and comment or discuss on the videos I embed.
The purpose is ...
2
votes
4answers
252 views
Should I use my company's IP?
I've been working for a company as a contractor for several months. While working for this company, I created some seriously sensitive IP. This is IP that is nigh on patentable.
My employment with ...
37
votes
11answers
5k views
What if Google+ stole my idea? Can I do anything about it? Should I?
From around March 2009 to October 2009, my sister and I built a website and dubbed it our "first startup": Jumpino.com. Truthfully, it was hardly a startup: we had no capital, no way of monetizing, ...
1
vote
1answer
46 views
Does exists shared patents porfolios that a company can contract as insurance?
considering so much articles I've read about the IP scenario today, I was wondering if there exists Patents holder companies that...
Have a good patents porfolio (maybe thounsands, in many areas).
...
3
votes
2answers
215 views
Software copyright after dissolution
I was part of a joint venture that is in windup mode. The software was mostly a compilation of open source software. No patents filed or anything like that. However, the lawyer is selling assets which ...
1
vote
3answers
507 views
Forced to sign intellectual property agreement or be terminated after 4 years of service
I have worked for a small 25 employee non-profit in the US for the past 4 years. About 9 months ago, I identified some deficiencies within the company in the areas of data management and ...
3
votes
1answer
193 views
Intellectual Property and Side-Projects in Western Europe
Joel's answer on "If I'm working at a company, do they have intellectual property rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?" certainly was an interesting read. However, it was pretty much centred ...
1
vote
2answers
120 views
Disputes in startup
hi i had a friend of mine, we worked on a idea, now my friend is not interested to work with me and he is looking for someone else.However the idea was conceived by me. Can i shake off hands and go ...
1
vote
1answer
97 views
Creating an online downloadable multiplayer game
I have a concept for an online multiplayer game which would require the user to download a lobby interface to access the online content. I am looking for advice for where to look for people who would ...
2
votes
1answer
200 views
Question about IP and sweat equity in California
I've been part of a startup that has so far done nothing or gone anywhere in almost a year. I have pretty much given up on the place but I am curious if I can walk out with an game pitch I created. I ...
1
vote
2answers
159 views
Idea for a non-related business while employed
I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on this one. As I worked for my previous employer, I came up with an idea for my startup. While I was employed, I created mockups/wireframes for my ...
1
vote
3answers
292 views
IP Ownership Dispute
My partner and I are having a dispute. I wanted to know who owns the code in a company with one technical cofounder (me) who has written the entire code. I was the one who came up the idea and started ...
1
vote
1answer
299 views
tax implications of not assigning ip early enough to a startup from founder
I'm the sole founder of a startup and I've incorporated a delaware c-corp, but have not yet issued any shares. I'm putting all that legal stuff off so I can focus on product development. Plan is to ...
3
votes
2answers
250 views
UK one-man software house Ltd - should director have employment contract?
Scenario: A one-man, self-funding software developer with a software-licensing business model. Startup is self funding with no revenue anticipated for at least 1.5 years.
My query relates mainly to ...
2
votes
3answers
232 views
I'm afraid someone's patenting my ideas
I had a brainstorming session with a friend a year and a half ago, and a lot of great ideas came out of it. I moved on the ideas, starting a company - our product has been on the market for about 10 ...
1
vote
1answer
59 views
Strategies for a Startup within a Big Company
I have an idea for a product that is close enough in concept to my employer's business that they might have a claim on the IP (not a valid claim, IMO, but they have all the lawyers). It's unlikely ...
1
vote
2answers
315 views
Is there a conflict of interest between my side project and employer?
I have developed an iPhone photo sharing App on the App store and recently I started interning for a company that makes iPhone games. During my interview I showed them my App as part of my resume (so ...
3
votes
1answer
326 views
No employer contract, what IP rights do I have?
Ive been employeed by an Advertising agency for coming up on 3 years now as a web developer. Prior to my employment I was a subcontractor hired by this same agency for about 3 years. I have had many ...
1
vote
3answers
131 views
Developer IP and personal Coding
My friend and I recently started our own service company. Since we have no technical background, we found a development guy to join our team. We ended up filing for an LLC two months afterwards (we ...
1
vote
1answer
144 views
Seeking Google+ Development Partner
Does anyone know of or have contacts for any companies that have products centered around Google’s APIs? We’re looking to potentially partner with a company on a product for Google+ and specifically ...
2
votes
6answers
314 views
Startup my own or work for an established startup
Over the past 2 years I have been developing my own business. Recently we have gotten some traction and are moving forward--code is being written and things are falling into place. I feel very ...
2
votes
1answer
117 views
Idea discussed in a team - if only select few execute and implement with no help from others - can others claim a stake?
An idea was recently discussed at work amongst the team, but we realized there was no buy-in from management without a working prototype. Also there was no funding available from the employer to work ...
2
votes
3answers
304 views
Remote employee in China?
My niche software developing startup needs specialist developers. I have located an individual in China with proven experience in my field. How can I best go about working with him?
I can't employ ...
0
votes
1answer
56 views
Tapping into somebody else's product data
I have a client who got 3rd party software(3PS). I wrote module that reads data from their database and does reporting, etc.
Question #1:Is that legal to read THEIR data from 3rd party software?
...
3
votes
2answers
88 views
Confidentiality Agreements for innovative uses of commercial software
I have a startup music business where I can produce, but am not limited to, an entire 18-piece big-band ala Hoyt Curtin ("The Jetsons", "Flintstones" etc.) overnight without any recording expenses to ...
7
votes
5answers
640 views
How do you protect your code from a freelancer?
I want to hire a freelancer to fix some bugs on my startup code. How can I protect the code from being stolen?
Thanks
7
votes
2answers
449 views
Intellectual Property Suicide Pill
I'm planning a new software company that will license software to businesses. A lot of R&D will be needed to create the software and indeed, our codebase will be our biggest asset. Unfortunately ...
2
votes
1answer
268 views
Is intellectual property a commodity?
Is intellectual property considered a commodity? Can intellectual property be bought and/or sold like other commodity type goods?
0
votes
1answer
118 views
UK taxation of startup gain due to IP
I learnt today that if an author assigns copyright of his book to a publisher for a fee, the net revenue is taxed as income, not as capital gains.
On the other hand, one would normally think "Capital ...
3
votes
2answers
108 views
Is there any issue if my service APIs are very similar to my competitors
We have a web service and offer APIs for customers to integrate and create other customizations. Since following ReSTful design, we found our design eventually are so much alike our competitors. If we ...
10
votes
3answers
285 views
How should a startup deal with existing, ambiguous patents?
I've been thinking about a new idea I want to work on. After searching the USPTO, I found that there are many (hundreds) of patents around what I am wanting to work on, with a slew being very similar ...
3
votes
3answers
324 views
book name as Tag line for my website — intellectual property issues
I am planning to use the name of a book (about 3-4 yrs old) as the tag line of my website.
Its three words long.
What are the IP issues here, how do i know if i can use it legally or if the author ...
2
votes
2answers
107 views
Best strategy - attend tech conference vs contact directly business angel
We are working on a software product, in developement with v 1.0 not released yet, but with plenty of specifications for v 1.0 and for the next versions.
Small technical team, low budget.
We're ...
4
votes
3answers
271 views
How do you prove a computer-generated work was independently generated by you?
This question is related to one of my earlier posts about the ability to copyright sudokus. I have written a program that generates sudokus and I want to make a website with these sudokus. It seems ...
2
votes
1answer
50 views
website still active although supplier and trading office cancelled agreement
How can one legally make a company remove the website due to false representation. The domain belongs to the trading company as well as the company name. But the supplier has terminated the ...
4
votes
2answers
178 views
Copyright/IP of sudokus
I have recently learned how to do constraint processing and I figured out how to generate sudoku puzzles. I thought it would be interesting/fun to create an interactive website for these puzzles. I ...
0
votes
2answers
114 views
attending tech event before MVP
Short question
Would you expose your project to a tech event before having a first version publicly available?
Details
I'm building an app that has a set of specifications for first version, but ...
0
votes
3answers
267 views
In what ways I should/ can protect my rights before divulging my business idea or related information to anyone?
I am in the process of creating a web based start-up which is about a web-portal/application.
In what ways I should/ can protect my rights before divulging my business idea or related information to ...
7
votes
2answers
286 views
Are patents worth investing in?
We have got patents for specific technologies in the past, they cost a lot and the value was not really visable.
We often develop specific algorithms for real-time systems and work with a range of ...
6
votes
5answers
595 views
Should I give away my idea to an incubator program?
I'm considering applying my site, currently early in development, to YCombinator. Do I risk having my idea stolen by going through with the application process? They're asking very specific questions ...
1
vote
3answers
307 views
Prospective investor/partner asking for source code, what should I do?
After developing a unique software product for the past 5 years, I am looking to team up with a business developer that can get the right investment for going viral...
The prospective business ...
