OT: Try not to think at work!
Discussion
From The Register
www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/26627.html
www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/26627.html
quote:
Acatel owns US employee's thoughts
A US man says he will appeal a court's decision which ruled that an idea that existed only in his mind belonged to his employer.
Evan Brown has been working on an idea to convert old computer code so that it can be run on modern machine since 1975.
When Brown mentioned the idea to his employers while he worked for DSC Communications of Plano, Texas (subsequently bought by Alcatel) DSC decided it owned the rights to Brown's insight and demanded that he revealed his idea. Brown refused and he was fired. DCS then launched legal action against him to gain possession of his thoughts.
Almost six years later and Brown has finally been told by a judge that DCS is entitled to his idea. He's also been told to stump up $332,000 in legal costs. Throughout the legal process Brown maintained that he'd never written down the idea, only solved part of it while employed by DCS and thought of some of it outside office hours.
His former employer maintained that he had signed a contract which contained a clause giving DCS ownership rights of any of his "inventions".
Brown's idea was deemed to be an "invention".
On his web site Brown claims he's been "railroaded" and has vowed to appeal.
He also launched a scathing attack on the justice system in Texas.
The lesson from DSC/Alcatel .vs. Evan Brown? If you've got a good idea, keep it under your hat. That, or abstain from thinking altogether.
Ahhh, Intelectual property.
I too would be a rich man, instead my last company are still making money out of my ideas that I weren't allowed to talk about for two years after walking out (over an arguement about intelectual property amongst other things
)...
Fu
ng Contracts. 
>> Edited by scruff400 on Monday 12th August 14:02
I too would be a rich man, instead my last company are still making money out of my ideas that I weren't allowed to talk about for two years after walking out (over an arguement about intelectual property amongst other things
)... Fu
ng Contracts. >> Edited by scruff400 on Monday 12th August 14:02
As far as I know, it's fairly standard practice to sign an interlectual property agreement when recruited to an R&D role. I had to sign one too, giving the same rights to my employer. It did seem to me to fairly draconian at the time but I have to admit that if I came up with an 
I thought was a definite winner, I think I'd suddenly feel the need to resign due to extreme lip-tightness...
I thought was a definite winner, I think I'd suddenly feel the need to resign due to extreme lip-tightness...quote:
Well, after 'hate-crime' legislation, which in essence punishes an 'offender' for what they were suspected to be thinking whilst commiting an offence against another person, other thought-crime legislation is bound to follow..
its been prophecied.... Orwell's 1984 wasnt it...?
quote:
Nightmare. Does that mean they can do you for sexual harrasment if you have improper thoughts about the secretaries?
I think the logical extension is that the thoughts belong to the company - so they're the dirty-minded bastards, not you. You should be able to sue them.
I was involved in an invention years ago and a couple of years after I left the company I got a letter asking me to sign over my rights. Never did - but I don't think it made any difference. The thing I remember most vividly was the letter's author, an
F. W. Arter
Never quite worked out why he always put the W in there.
quote:
Shocking isn't it...? Would it be too hard to erm, forget...!
Roop
Sounds like this chap should smoke some weeed, It does make one forgetful doesn't it? I wouldn't know of course!
Or
Just let them have the idea ...
"Ok, here it is then, I propose we get rid of the old code and re-write it in java scrpt"
quote:
Well, after 'hate-crime' legislation, which in essence punishes an 'offender' for what they were suspected to be thinking whilst commiting an offence against another person, other thought-crime legislation is bound to follow..
Sounds like Minority Report where they arrest and imprison you for a crime you are about to commit.
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