Questions regarding all matters related to ownership and rights to intangible assets such as art, software, designs, etc.
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
60 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
327 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 ...
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 ...
19
votes
6answers
989 views
Teammates have pushed me out of our venture. What to do now?
I along with 3 other people created a concept for an innovative Ecommerce platform as part of a 5 week startup pre-incubator. We had a great run and on demo day we won the audience and panel of ...
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
300 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 ...
1
vote
2answers
317 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 ...
1
vote
2answers
200 views
How do I get a trademark on a logo and slogan when I have no money?
I have an idea for two great logos and slogans that I would sell to two different companies if I could afford to get them secured through a reputable attorney. I have an attorney in mind. Is it a good ...
2
votes
1answer
212 views
How Should I Deal With Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is a subject that has far reaching implications for your business. There are several different types of intellectual property that every business deals with. They include: ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
552 views
How to protect yourself against the unethical business practices of a competitor like Nuance Communications?
I plan on working in the pattern recognition software industry. Some research into this industry led me to read about a company called “Nuance Communication.” According to this techcrunch article, ...
9
votes
5answers
2k views
If I pitch my idea to a company, what are my rights?
I recently came up with what I believe is a great idea which builds on a specific technology already existing in the marketplace. I believe it represents a completely new use for the technology and ...
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 ...
2
votes
3answers
244 views
If the agreement states IP is owned by the Consultant, is there any room for disagreement?
I am in the process to send a service agreement to my clients. I am stating that Intellectual Property related to all promotional material created while in the service agreement by my company will be ...
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
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 ...
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
269 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
179 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
287 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
597 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
311 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 ...
2
votes
3answers
460 views
do I own my work
If I build a website while on salary, is it considered my bosses intellectual property? I have never had a contract and the domain is registered in my own name. I put in a lot of extra time to build ...
1
vote
4answers
1k views
How to Copyright a Marketing Idea
I have a few marketing idea that I have done some research on and have not been able to find other people who have done them. Since I am not in any businesses that could use the idea I wanted to sell ...
0
votes
3answers
174 views
Intellectual Property question about version 1.0 of a web app
What is the motivation for small companies to release version 1.0 that has the most important features that define the application? Couldn't a bigger company just replicate these features over the ...
1
vote
1answer
168 views
We have a well-established trademark - how safe is it to let its registration lapse?
I work for a company called New Internationalist ( http://www.newint.org/ ). We've been trading under that name since 1973, and have a registered trademark for the name which has recently lapsed. The ...
1
vote
1answer
450 views
Can I name my website the same as someone else's if it already exists?
If I own DomainName.com but someone else with DomainName.info already has a site named "Domain Name," am I allowed to call my site "Domain Name" as well?
5
votes
4answers
1k views
How long would my previous employer have to sue me, claiming intellectual property rights on an iPhone app I wrote?
I was reading this thread -
If I'm working at a company, do they
have intellectual property rights to
the stuff I do in my spare time?
It has some great answers to a question I felt ...
1
vote
2answers
133 views
Legality of using idea developed while a consultant
Before I go ahead on put much effort into a startup idea I have, I wanted to know if anyone could direct me to legal resources/opinions on using ideas developed while consulting for a company as the ...
306
votes
27answers
139k views
If I'm working at a company, do they have intellectual property rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
I was interviewed by a lady from Zynga and she told me that Zynga doesn't allow developers to have side projects. Is this true for companies in general, or just a minority that Zynga is a part of? ...
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
148 views
What are the legalities concerning supporting open source software?
For the last couple months, I have been building small HTPCs with a variety of software on them, tailored to what my customers (so far just my friends) want.
There is a market there, but I'm ...
0
votes
1answer
393 views
How to minimize risk of software copyright infringement claims
I had a software developer create a software program, which I copyrighted and then assigned to a software company (and LLC) that I co-founded. I plan to sell the program to the general public.
Then ...
1
vote
2answers
187 views
What does IP mean in Digital medium
From my understanding of Paul Graham's Article http://paulgraham.com/msftpatent.html, IP doesn't have much affect on digital products/services. For example, youtube, tinyurl, groupon, kickstarter all ...
1
vote
2answers
121 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 ...
