Ask HN: What legal rights do I have over side project source code?

[tmsh]

Say I've been working on a project for a year. I'm not quite done, but I decide to join a firm as a software developer. Short of open sourcing everything I've done, do I have a way to continue development of this project in my free time? Does anyone know of any legal documents that are already prepared in this regard? Or of other legal strategies?

I can imagine that the company, and their code base, will perhaps legitimately claim that as soon as I start working on that -- I will be 'affected' by this code, and so it becomes difficult to determine if my side project code is my code any longer.

I could seriously see this being an issue in a couple of months. At any rate, do people remain independent contractors or consultants for this reason? Curious what other people's experiences are.

[patio11]

I am not a lawyer, but the question doesn't require a "legal strategy" so much as it requires an agreement between you and your employer that your side project does not pose a problem. Why don't you talk to your employer, tell them that you working on your own time provides immense value to them ("Training that you don't have to pay for!"), and ask them to simply write a letter or memo saying "We're aware of it and have no problem."

Litigation is merely the penultimate stage of a negotiation which broke down many steps before.

[tmsh → patio11]

Thanks. That sounds exactly right. For my purposes, this would be for future employers (I basically took a year off to work on this project). But I imagine a memo would be all I needed on a new job.

[tmsh]

Just another quick thought. I suppose to be completely safe, I could try to work in a technology area that was as different as possible from what my project is on (mostly real-time graphics, c++, etc.). Perhaps that would keep them separate if it were ever a legal question.

[teaspoon]

Are you in the United States? What state are you working in?

[tmsh → teaspoon]

Yes, in California.

[alnayyir]

The only state I'm aware of that for sure guarantees ownership of projects worked on in free-time while an employee is California. Otherwise, you're going to need to provide your locale.

[tmsh → alnayyir]

Good to know. Yeah, I'm in California. Thanks.

[hga → tmsh]

Since the state of California has decided that such "we own you" contract provisions are against public policy, the only risks you are running if you don't tell your new employer are that they might fire you if/when they discover your side project and that you might have to hire a lawyer if they sue you purely on these grounds.

If they aren't asking for pretty much all your available effort (hours per week and so on) and there's no real overlap between what they do and your project (so there's no legitimate possibility of trade secret law coming into play) I don't see any need to borrow trouble and bring this up. Better to ask forgiveness and all that.

[tmsh → hga]

Another good to know. Thanks.

I think I agree with your last thoughts there too. Very helpful. I mean I'll be honest with them as much as possible. But there's no need to confuse things until there really is overlap like you mention.

At a place like Google or Microsoft, where there are huge code bases, I would probably have to declare things immediately. But otherwise I could probably wait and see. Thanks again.