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employment contracts and inventions
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 05:04:40 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Scott Alexander <salex () dsalex org> Date: August 18, 2004 9:43:11 PM EDT To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: employment contracts and inventions Having had to sign a range of employment contracts from the relatively benign (if I develop an idea on my employers time or equipment, they own it) to one's like that described below, I found this fairly interesting. Scott http://salon.com/tech/feature/2004/08/18/evan_brown/index.html In July, the Texas Court of Appeals turned down software programmer Evan Brown's appeal for a jury trial to decide who owned an idea in his head: Brown, or his former employer. The decision was a victory for business and a blow to the little guy, as well as an affirmation of standard employment-contract law. It's also a cautionary tale for creative-minded information technology workers. Seven years ago Brown told his employer, DSC Communications Corp., that he had figured out a system to translate data from old mainframe computer programs into modern computer languages, an innovation that would enable businesses to run their old software on much faster computers. Brown says he had been wrestling with the problem since 1975 and finally, while on vacation in 1996, he figured out the final 20 percent of the puzzle. [...] By 1998, Paris-based Alcatel had purchased DSC. Alcatel continued to assert ownership of Brown's idea, and after it failed to gain control when Brown filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a summary judgment was issued in 2002 from the 219th Judicial District Court in Texas in favor of the company. Not only has Brown lost the rights to his idea, but he is also liable for Alcatel's $332,000 attorneys' fees. Brown says he will soldier on and is petitioning for review at the state court level. [...] Brown challenged the enforceability of his employment agreement, saying that because his idea wasn't complete and needed more work and that he had been developing the idea for many years before working for Alcatel, it was not an invention that could be patented and it could not be claimed by Alcatel. He also argued for a jury trial, instead of a summary judgment by one judge. [...] What every employee concerned about protecting their own ideas should do, the three lawyers wholeheartedly agree, is be very clear about what they are signing in an employment contract. If they do have a long-running idea, they should make clear in the contract that their idea was developed outside the company. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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