Perth Game Company CEO Takes IP By Night

snicho99 writes "A US owned gaming company has fled Australia, leaving unpaid employees and a massive tax bill. Apparently many staff have been working unpaid for months to allow their game to ship and hopefully the company to recover. Interzone's Perth (Western Australia) office was created with the assistance of a state government grant. Last week Interzone's (American) CEO entered the building at night and removed all the servers and IP so that Interzone could continue production at a new company they have opened in Ireland. The staff caught him on camera. More background here."

Comments

Re:Other countries are interesting

[TheRaven64]

You have three choices:

1. Leave with one month of your salary unpaid and write it off as a mistake.
2. Leave with one month of your salary unpaid, sue the company, force them to declare bankruptcy, still don't get your money, and still have to pay the court costs.
3. Work for another month, get the product finished and get all of your back pay plus a bonus if the company makes enough money from selling the product to stay afloat.

Which do you choose? The second option is a waste of time. The first is a guaranteed loss. The third is a gamble, where you potentially have a bigger loss, but potentially have a gain. I know people working for small businesses who have received nice bonuses for choosing option 3, and others who have had the company fold owing them back pay. If you don't have another job lined up to start immediately, it's often a good idea to try to keep the company afloat while you look for other employment as a backup.