Intellectual property and consulting

[duncan drennan]

Well, you do get the money. Perhaps the trick is to make sure the money is enough....

I think the really big concern here is that some aspect of a previous job could affect your ability to service a future contract. Some part of both solutions consists of the same component, and you are restrained from using it whilst another engineer would be free to do so. That definitely seems unfairly prejudicial.

Yes, this is exactly the issue. In the requirement that I gave to the attorney, I said this,

The issue of ownership is one which seems to arise in each contract and engagement. From my company's perspective the most important thing is to ensure that the contract which is entered into does not impact my ability to do work in the future.

The second most important thing is to try to ensure that components of the final solution that is supplied to the customer are reusable, within reasonable limits. The big issue here is to not dilute the intellectual capital that is built up in the course of conducting my business, and at the same time to allow my clients to feel at ease that I will not conduct myself in a way that could negatively impact their business.

A lot of this process is establishing what is reasonable. If I'm being unreasonable then I'm quite willing to change my perspective, but I need to be sure about where I stand when entering into agreements.

Importantly I want to treat my clients well, and ethically - figuring out exactly what the bounds of those relationships are is important.