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   This seems like bullshit...

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Topic: This seems like bullshit... (Read 814 times)

Rhune
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This seems like bullshit...
« on: Aug 12^th, 2002, 11:04am »

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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.

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Addams
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Re: This seems like bullshit...
« Reply #1 on: Aug 12^th, 2002, 11:25am »

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on Aug 12^th, 2002, 11:04am, Rhune wrote:

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.

Does anyone have his web site? I would like to have the link. Law.com has also published an article on this matter. In their summary they state,
Idea in Former Employee's Head Belongs to Alcatel
Texas Lawyer
Does a company own your thoughts? Maybe. Plano, Texas-based Alcatel has prevailed in a suit against a former employee who claimed that he -- rather than Alcatel -- owned rights to a software idea that he asserted had long existed in his head. The case has legal pundits wondering who owns an idea if it hasn't been expressed in a tangible form but an employee has signed a contract making no exclusions under the "inventions" clause. The full link to the article is at http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1028906396630

the answer is not to keep it in your head if you are ready to patent it. The answer is to quit your job and don't sign any employment contract that would take your invention in these circumstances. This is easier said than done. I expect this decision to be appealed.

Traditionally if you develop something outside of your employment. example in your basement at night when you are not at work. then you are the owner and your rights are not transferred to your employer but it depends on the contract.

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Re: This seems like bullshit...
« Reply #2 on: Aug 12^th, 2002, 11:38am »

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The facts here are a bit complicated. I have scanned the one story at law.com. Seems Brown represented himself. Which is always troublesome. There are some credibility issues too. Unfortunately he is also being hit with costs of Alcatel - in the amount of USD$300,000.

Maybe a firm will take it on pro bono for the appeal.

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Bumper
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Re: This seems like bullshit...
« Reply #3 on: Aug 12^th, 2002, 11:39am »

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Sounds to me like Mr. Brown is being a little less than candid. Hard to believe that you can be "thinking" of something for 25 years and not have something to show for it. Sounds to me like he had an idea and had been working on it. It also sounds like the company wanted to protect their interests and since the employee signed a contract, they had a right to the fruit of his efforts.

If you work for a Wiget company, and your job is to figure out how to make better wigets, and you sign a contract saying that IF you do figure anything out, it belongs to the company, not you, . . .Well, if the lightbulb goes on and you do figure out a new wiget, you aren't going to get much sympathy by saying that you did your wiget thinking off duty for 25 years!! . . . .at least in Texas!!

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