Ask HN: What legal rights do I have over side project source code?

by tmsh on 6/19/2010, 3:22 AM with 9 comments

Say I've been working on a project for a year. I'm not quite done, but I decide to join a firm as a software developer. Short of open sourcing everything I've done, do I have a way to continue development of this project in my free time? Does anyone know of any legal documents that are already prepared in this regard? Or of other legal strategies?

I can imagine that the company, and their code base, will perhaps legitimately claim that as soon as I start working on that -- I will be 'affected' by this code, and so it becomes difficult to determine if my side project code is my code any longer.

I could seriously see this being an issue in a couple of months. At any rate, do people remain independent contractors or consultants for this reason? Curious what other people's experiences are.

  • by patio11 on 6/19/2010, 6:24 AM

    I am not a lawyer, but the question doesn't require a "legal strategy" so much as it requires an agreement between you and your employer that your side project does not pose a problem. Why don't you talk to your employer, tell them that you working on your own time provides immense value to them ("Training that you don't have to pay for!"), and ask them to simply write a letter or memo saying "We're aware of it and have no problem."

    Litigation is merely the penultimate stage of a negotiation which broke down many steps before.

  • by tmsh on 6/19/2010, 6:25 AM

    Just another quick thought. I suppose to be completely safe, I could try to work in a technology area that was as different as possible from what my project is on (mostly real-time graphics, c++, etc.). Perhaps that would keep them separate if it were ever a legal question.

  • by teaspoon on 6/19/2010, 5:01 AM

    Are you in the United States? What state are you working in?

  • by alnayyir on 6/19/2010, 5:52 AM

    The only state I'm aware of that for sure guarantees ownership of projects worked on in free-time while an employee is California. Otherwise, you're going to need to provide your locale.