
Ask HN: Any legal problems working in the same field on the side? - ge96
More context<p>I was a freelancer for a medical website and I was trying to help develop this SaaS&#x2F;online tool that ended up going nowhere. I am aware HIPPA&#x2F;and all that.<p>I&#x27;m now a contractor&#x2F;full time for a medical corporation, no relation to above(hiring manager not even aware of former &quot;medical&quot; experience). Pretty much a doctor hired me to try and build this tool he had in mind.<p>I have decided that due to how much time I sunk into the previous thing that currently has still gone nowhere(other than me getting paid hourly in the past)... I&#x27;m going to keep working on it unpaid.<p>There is no tech overlap, but I&#x27;m wondering is this legally okay. I mean I&#x27;m not receiving money for the side thing.
But I&#x27;m hoping, I can get it to become something so in the future when my contract ends I may have a job.<p>As mentioned conceptually there&#x27;s no overlap&#x2F;different tech&#x2F;and all that. The only &quot;overlap&quot; is that both are medically related.
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ge96
Update, I decided to get out of it, too much risk, the "start up wannabe"
thing on the side can't match my income from my current job and my current job
is the fastest/realest thing for me to get out of debt/achieve some semblance
of financial security so yeah...

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bingo_cannon
The answer depends on a lot of factors e.g. where are you based? Some states
in the US allow you to do whatever using your own resources and your own free
time. Even though it might be legally allowed, companies' contracts generally
forbid you from doing anything competitive. So:

\- Are you doing this using your won resources and time?

\- Are you building a potentially competing product?

\- What does your contract say about it?

\- Can anyone still claim IP on what you've built so far? As in it seems you
worked for someone before to build it, did you get compensated for it?

Of course, IANAL, so you'd want some professional advice.

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ge96
In the past before I started working at current job, I was paid for this work
hourly. I think my "contract" for that said I owned nothing(kind of sad) of
whatever I develop for this doctor/LLC.

Yeah it's on my own/separate device/not related technologically to the corp.

I don't know if it's a competing though, but it's possible just because the
corp is a giant umbrella.

I would have to find my contract, but I'm pretty sure it would say something
like no compete. But that's the thing, I'm not getting paid for this work. And
it's basic at this time like "is the server still running" because I did a lot
of UI/workflow work in the past(almost 3 years ago) but I can't do any more of
that work until the app actually gets used/more funding.

I'm just trying to "invest" in this thing where if it becomes valuable I could
potentially have a future job.

