Mind control: Do companies own the thoughts of their employees? According to one Texas judge, Alcatel, the French manufacturer of telecom equipment, does.
In a case tied up in the Texas court system for five and a half years, Judge Curt B. Henderson of the Collin County, Texas, District Court found that Alcatel owned a former employee's software idea that had never been written on paper.
Former employee Evan Brown said the idea -- a method for converting machine-executable binary code into high-level source code, reverse-engineering the intelligence from existing programs and recoding it into high-level language, and converting machine code into C language source -- existed in his head long before he worked at Alcatel and that he was the rightful owner of it.
The lawsuit began when DSC Communications, which later merged into Alcatel USA, sued Brown in April 1997 for withholding an idea for software. The company said it owned Brown's idea because of a signed employment agreement requiring him to disclose any inventions he conceived of or developed while at the company. Judge Henderson considered the document valid and ruled in favor of Alcatel.
Brown, who has been documenting his legal woes on his website, said he would appeal the decision.
posted on August 15, 2002 01:38:02 PM new
And the moral of the story is
Never give your bosses any ideas that you might have ideas. Otherwise, those who can't think will sue. Besides, bosses should be able to think up their own ideas.
Seriously, this just kills the idea of intellectual property. You have the right to an informed opinion -Harlan Ellison
posted on August 15, 2002 01:52:03 PM new
It would seem that if you ever worked for acompany and signed an intellectual property agreement, they can claim ownership for everything from that date forward.
posted on August 15, 2002 01:58:46 PM new
And backwards, according to what was said on the website about this case. He said he came up with the idea before his employment! Maybe the PTB should just assign us to a corporation at birth. You have the right to an informed opinion -Harlan Ellison
posted on August 15, 2002 02:39:05 PM new
>>idea -- a method for converting machine-executable binary code into high-level source code, reverse-engineering the intelligence from existing programs and recoding it into high-level language, and converting machine code into C language source -<<
posted on August 15, 2002 04:34:31 PM new
Well for one thing if it was an Idea he was working on in his mind only, THey couldn't sue him for it at all they wouldn't know about it.
The problem comes when you bring up the Idea to someone you work with or you try to profit from the Idea while you still hold your job.
you can not sue someone because you assume or think they have an Idea related to there job that could make it easyer or more profitable.
I have signed these agreements before, they dont work that way.
If I was to come up with an Idea or invention having to do with the business that would make my job and others who work there easyer or more profitable I can notwhile I work for the company aply for a patent the Idea or sell it to any one untill I offer it to my employer first so they can look at it and have the chance to make the first offer on it.
how ever it has to be more then a thought it must be a working model, drawing and write or verbal report of the Idea and how it would work.
as well it can not just be hear say like a co-worker reporting to the employer that they know you have such an Idea.
I would guess that this is why this one has been in the courts so long...
posted on August 15, 2002 06:49:36 PM new
These agreements are becomming more common place. I don't think you should sign any agreement for which you're not smart enough to figure a way around it.
posted on August 16, 2002 10:07:00 AM new
In reading the article, it will eventually go to trial. It probably won't hold up. I mean, get real, when do Texas judges make ANYTHING real law. Almost every decision they have ever made lately has been overturned when it gets to a REAL judge.
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Reality is a serious condition brought on by a lack of alcohol in the system
posted on August 16, 2002 01:16:50 PM new
Those were trials in Texas. I meant REAL trials with real laws. Not these attention-grabbing wannabe cowboys.
I wonder, since it is all in his head, he can just say "I forgot" (But it will all come back to me as soon as I set up residence in another State)
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Someone here needs to be spanked.....
[ edited by mlecher on Aug 16, 2002 01:20 PM ]
posted on August 17, 2002 04:19:22 PM new
Evans may die poor from costs of legal defense, but the suing corporation will die from lack of (Evan's) knowledge.
