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Thread: Intellectual property and consulting

  1. #11
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dsd View Post
    The cost of not protecting myself is way higher though,
    That's the key, I reckon.
    Hopefully it's more KA-CHING than KA-CHING.

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    just me duncan drennan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
    That's the key, I reckon.
    Hopefully it's more KA-CHING than KA-CHING.
    Seems like it is not going to be too bad, only Ka-Ching

    It is never nice when you hear it for the first time and you are not sure what to expect, but thinking about it on the way back, I think the rate is quite reasonable, and probably below what I should be paying.

    Quick thoughts:

    The main issue that arose in the meeting was that what is in your head is yours. For the big issue is what classifies as "in my head" and what doesn't? Where are the lines drawn.

    I haven't instructed him to go ahead yet, but I am planning to. Just mulling it over for a few minutes.
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dsd View Post
    The main issue that arose in the meeting was that what is in your head is yours.
    At the risk of confusing your thoughts:
    So you are contracting out your skill, not selling your knowledge.

    I think NDA's are pretty well a given from both sides in terms of existing knowledge within either party. It's knowledge/product that you create whilst being contracted to apply that skill that is at issue here.

    And I've been thinking about my p'd off instinct about stuff I create within that contract. If I'm being paid to apply my skills to a specific outcome, I can't really complain about the entity paying the bills ending up with ownership of the results.

    For me, I form partnerships with some knowledge resources and hire others. The difference lies in the structure and reward for their contribution.

    Eish. Feel like I'm going round in circles.

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    just me duncan drennan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
    Eish. Feel like I'm going round in circles.
    Yes, this is the problem! I keep trying to put myself on each side of the fence, if I am a contractor, what am I happy with? If I was contracting out, what would I want?

    What I'm trying to find is some healthy middle road. Essentially you have a situation where you can up your price and include any developed IP in the price, or negotiate the other way, better price, less IP transfer. It really is a tricky one. I'm VERY interested to see what he comes back to me with.

    Coming back to your analogy of the website, they did not give you one single piece of IP. They retained copyright, etc. etc. You just got a working product out. That is a commonly used model in software. I think that in general physical stuff seems to sway the other way. You pay me, I leave with nothing, you get everything. The MUST be some reasonable compromise somewhere in the middle!
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dsd View Post
    You pay me, I leave with nothing, you get everything.
    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.

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    just me duncan drennan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
    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.
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