HN Explorer

Ask HN: If I bootstrap, does my current company own the IP for my work ?

7 points by smwhreyebelong ↗ HN
I have an idea and want to develop a prototype for it on weekends/nights. However, I was wondering if my current company would own the IP and if that could cause problems later on ?

Any advice on bootstrapping, things I should look out for before starting this ? It would be great to hear some anecdotes about bootstrapping as well.

10 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 29.6 ms ] thread
pg
It all depends on what agreement you signed with your current employer. (If you didn't sign anything, which is unlikely, the IP is all yours.)
smwhreyebelong
Thanks pg. I guess it all depends on the fine print of the contract I signed.
trickjarrett
Have you signed any such documents?
smwhreyebelong
I signed a document about any "inventions" I do being the property of the current company. Would the new company / project count as an invention ?
trickjarrett
I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that yes it would count as an invention. You need to address this with your employer before proceeding any further.

Now you're in touchy territory, you're telling your bosses that you have a side project which may one day take you away from them, but if you're going to do this and maintain control it's a risk you have to take.

Otherwise when you leave, if they know about it, they can take you to court for this project.

If you go in to talk to them, assure them that it is a side project and that you won't work on it during work hours or using work equipment (not even a company lent laptop is safe.) If the project is still neo-natal then they should be cool with it and have no interest in it unless the idea is that good.

If you think the company might take it from you and you don't want that. You have to work on it in secret, never tell the coworkers, etc. Then leave the company before it becomes known, and the term expires on your contract document.

smwhreyebelong
That was the only thing I was worried about. Even if I don't tell anybody and work on it in secret, after I leave the company and say release this product, could they come after me and say : hey, you signed a contract .. this product belongs to us since you worked on it when you were with the company ?

I guess I am getting a little paranoid about this but I just wanted to understand if anybody had any good / bad experiences and the best way to go about it. Thanks for the advice

trickjarrett
Depending on the terms of the contract, yes.

The good: They have to be able to prove you worked on it while working for them.

The bad: You'd still get saddled with legal fees if they come after you, even if you win the case and retain the project.

frankus
This is a gray area. If your personal project overlaps in any way with current or potential future projects that your employer might undertake, be very, very careful.

I presented one such idea to an employer I worked for, and they actually created a "quitclaim deed" saying that they weren't interested in taking on the liability, and that provided I didn't use company time or facilities they didn't expect a cut of the profits or IP either. But most employers aren't that cool.

Many employment contracts have a clause saying that the company you work for owns any ideas you come up with related to your work while you're employed there. Make sure you take a look at your contract to see if it has such a clause.

The only situation I could think of where you could probably let it slide is if your project is totally unrelated to what your company does. For example you program DSPs for a living and your side project is a social networking app.

As for anecdotes, I haven't worked for that employer for ten years, but at the same time my side project is still in its infancy. Fortunately the technology has advanced in the intervening years to the point that it is actually practical, so hopefully I'll have a prototype done soon.

smwhreyebelong
Thanks for the advice. I did sign a contract but I am not sure if the scope is limited to my work related to what I do at the company.

My current company is pretty vast and it's not unimaginable that they could come up with a similar product but it's highly unlikely .. even more unlikely in the coming years.

The other thing is that I don't know if the project will take off and I don't wanna discuss it with people at my current company yet.

yeti
hey, i was in your situation (actually i had started a lot of work on my website before i started panicking about it)

i actually made friends with the company lawyer and asked her informally about it first. i suggest you can try first. if the work contract. then it's not unreasonable to ask for a letter from the company saying its ok... as long as you're doing a good job at work i guess it's fine (people may even see you as with a lot of initiative to be starting your own idea outside of work)

good luck...