
Ask HN: Code Intellectual Property Release Upon Resigning - eonicx
I&#x27;ve been the lead software architect at a company for over a decade and contributed majority of the code for the platform they have been using. Obviously the code is owned by the company and I had a clean&#x2F;amicable separation.<p>I am working on my own projects now. Although I am carrying no files from my old company, and zero copy-paste engineering, the work I am building looks very similar (as in directory structures, where things are, how work flows in the code). It&#x27;s like you are used to doing things a certain way - it&#x27;s hard to change drastically and makes no sense anyhow.<p>Has any of you experienced a dilemma&#x2F;anxiety over this, where you are scared your previous company may press claims on the intellectual property? I have even thought of screencasting myself building things from scratch to prove I haven&#x27;t &quot;stolen code&quot; (half kidding) Am i making this a bigger deal than it is?
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e1g
You spent a decade developing this knowledge and techniques while on the
company's payroll, under the company's direction, and for the company's
purpose. This is their IP, and this ownership is almost certainly cemented in
your employment contract. If after 10 years of benefiting from, and
contributing to, the company's operational and technical knowledge you start
working on something that "looks very similar", it is in your best interest to
consult a lawyer.

Edit: Before we start sorting what the company does or does not own (e.g. "the
company can't own IP for this e2e test harness setup!"), it is useful to ask
yourself if 1) you're prepared to defend these points in court 2) you can
afford to do so against a corporation, and 3) the ROI of that is justified.

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derpdorpherpson
"he made a rails app while working for us so the rails app he made after
quitting is ours. I can tell from the file structure and from having seen many
rails apps in my time." \- made up person

I find it hard to agree with your first paragraph. Particularly regarding file
structure. I assume there's 1000s of public github.com repos with exactly the
same structure as OP's. I say it's not IP at all, let alone IP you can take
from an employee... but I don't know.

Anyway can you elaborate on the e2e example or point to a reference? I am
doing e2e testing for a large company. One major question is, can they stop me
from doing e2e testing at another company? Either from an IP angle or a non-
compete angle? The company is a widget maker, not in the business of e2e
testing.

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andymoe
If you get successful enough where they care worry about it then. That’s a
“good” problem to have.

