
Ask HN: How do I get a technology I created from my old company? - KennyFromIT
I created a neat system at my old company. It was a consulting company and I designed and built a prototype (all software) that met the stated needs of the client.
There client chose not to use the solution and it&#x27;s now just sitting on the shelf, likely never to be used in it&#x27;s existing form.
The technology can be applied to other situations. How should I go about getting rights or full ownership of the technology so that it can provide value to the outside world?
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caymanjim
<ianal>The same way you get anything else: buy it. You can ask the owner to
sign the rights over, and maybe they will, but at this point it's just like
any other thing they own. Who the owner is might not be clear-cut: if the
client paid for your time and then rejected the result, they almost certainly
own it. If the consulting company created it on spec or in some other way ate
the cost, you'd have to determine whether the client or the consulting company
owns it. At the end of the day, though, someone owns it. They'll either give
it to you for free or they'll want to get paid. The easiest way is to simply
ask and take it from there. I've had things signed over to me for free in
almost exactly this situation, both in order to open source it and in order to
keep it private (in both cases, nothing ultimately came of it). Just make sure
you get something in writing.</ianal>

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NonEUCitizen
Talk to them. Ask them to give it to you for no upfront cost, perhaps with
some profit-sharing for them (e.g. they get 10% of your profit ONLY ON THIS
piece of software, up to a maximum of 2X what they spent on you for this
project). Have a lawyer review the agreement.

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rman666
I’m pretty sure your only option is to get a release from your old company or
to negotiate a license from them. They likely own it. You really should be
talking to a good software intellectual property attorney.

