Does Drawing on Experience Infringe on Other's IP?

Daniel Paull asks: "I recently asked one of our developers to draw up a design for a specific component. After a few hours he returns telling me that he'd solved a very similar problem a previous place of employment and that they had developed a "neat" solution. The developer then became concerned that a ground-up re-implementation of these design patterns and principals may infringe on the other companies intellectual property or breach some copyright laws. This developer is talented and experienced - that's why we hired him. The question is, at what point does 'drawing on experience' cross the line and invade others IP?"

Comments

Experience != IP

[Capt_Troy]

Experience and IP are two different things. This guy learned from past experience. Now he can apply that to solve a similar problem. If he hacked in and copied the code, that is different.

If you try to open a door differently each time, pretty soon you will be standing on your head trying to turn a knob with your feet.

This guy needs to do the best job he can for the company that hires him. If he refuses because he did something similar at another company, then you might as well just let him go.

T