Rewriting a Software Product After Quitting a Job?

hi_caramba_2008 writes "We are a bunch of good friends at a large software company. The product we work on is under-budgeted and over-hyped by the sales drones. The code quality sucks, and management keeps pulling in different direction. Discussing this among ourselves, we talked about leaving the company and rebuilding the code from scratch over a few months. We are not taking any code with us. We are not taking customer lists (we probably will aim at different customers anyway). The code architecture will also be different — hosted vs. stand-alone, different modules and APIs. But at the feature level, we will imitate this product. Can we be sued for IP infringement, theft, or whatever? Are workers allowed to imitate the product they were working on? We know we have to deal with the non-compete clause in our employment contracts, but in our state this clause has been very difficult to enforce. We are more concerned with other IP legal aspects."

Comments

What's really wrong here

[Dystopian Rebel]

... is that the threat of legal attack is preventing some people from trying to make better software. This is only good for lawyers. This is exactly the sort of world that we DON'T need.

Closed-source software is dying. In the meantime, there has to be some balance between a company's investment and the creativity of all people. An NDA provides some balance if it is reasonable.

Of course, most software companies today want to own your DNA and every character that you type, wherever you are. I strongly recommend that you read your employment agreement carefully. I also recommend that you not work for organizations that demand your enslavement.

Look to see if there's an open-source project in the same field. If it's already being done as FOSS, help the project and make a name for yourself. As long as you're not constrained by an NDA...

"The product we work on is under-budgeted and over-hyped by the sales drones. The code quality sucks, and management keeps pulling in different direction."

Humanity may be alone in the Universe, but bad software and fast-talking salespeople have plenty of company. And victims.