5 ms·

Does the 0.4% "handshake deal" potentially cause issues with this, though? Couldn't that be construed as an offer for the work that was produced that weekend?

Does the 0.4% "handshake deal" potentially cause issues with this, though? Couldn't that be construed as an offer for the work that was produced that weekend? If I was being uncharitable, I could say that the reason the 0.4% offer came up in the first place was specifically to deal with this problem - by offering a trivial amount of equity, Billy has an argument that the other programmers were compensated for their time in a form that they mutually agreed to. Why else would Billy bother making this arrangement?

dalke 11y ago
No, the relevant copyright law does not accept a 'handshake deal' to transfer copyright ownership as work for hire. Quoting from http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf : > A work created by an independent contractor can be a work made for hire only if (a) it falls within one of the nine categories of works listed in part 2 above and (b) there is a written agreement between parties specifying that the work is a work made for hire.
- nmrm2 11y ago
  Is access to the biz dev IP probably included by a handshake deal?
  - dalke 11y ago
    What sort of IP are you talking about? There's no trademark infringement, there's no patent. I didn't see mention of any trade secret, or anything that sounds like a trade secret (eg, "information which is difficult for others to properly acquire or independently duplicate"). If there's no law covering it, there's no IP.
carrja99 11y ago
From what I read Billy didn't make the arrangement, one of the developers did. The idea was that if the entire team of 9 didn't stick around to when the startup becomes successful then they at least get 0.4% equity for participating at startup weekend.
IkmoIkmo 11y ago
The 0.4% deal applies to Billy, as well. As I understand it, everyone is entitled to 0.4% of whatever venture follows from the work they'd collectively do over that weekend. It wasn't Billy who offered it, it was a friend of OP, one of the devs. Any of the devs could start a company as well and all of the other team members including Billy would have a 0.4% share in that, too. In fact the most sensible thing to do is for the 4 members to say 'let's start this thing up, take nearly 25% each, give Billy 0.4% and do our best'. They'd likely beat Billy in competition as they can iterate on the codebase, Billy can not without hiring a new team. If the devs aren't interested in running that startup then they'd still be entitled to 0.4% of what Billy is going to run. (edit ignore the exact percentages, they ended up with a team of 8 devs than 4)

dalke 11y ago

No, the relevant copyright law does not accept a 'handshake deal' to transfer copyright ownership as work for hire. Quoting from http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf : > A work created by an independent contractor can be a work made for hire only if (a) it falls within one of the nine categories of works listed in part 2 above and (b) there is a written agreement between parties specifying that the work is a work made for hire.

nmrm2 11y ago
Is access to the biz dev IP probably included by a handshake deal?
- dalke 11y ago
  What sort of IP are you talking about? There's no trademark infringement, there's no patent. I didn't see mention of any trade secret, or anything that sounds like a trade secret (eg, "information which is difficult for others to properly acquire or independently duplicate"). If there's no law covering it, there's no IP.

carrja99 11y ago

From what I read Billy didn't make the arrangement, one of the developers did. The idea was that if the entire team of 9 didn't stick around to when the startup becomes successful then they at least get 0.4% equity for participating at startup weekend.

IkmoIkmo 11y ago

The 0.4% deal applies to Billy, as well. As I understand it, everyone is entitled to 0.4% of whatever venture follows from the work they'd collectively do over that weekend. It wasn't Billy who offered it, it was a friend of OP, one of the devs. Any of the devs could start a company as well and all of the other team members including Billy would have a 0.4% share in that, too. In fact the most sensible thing to do is for the 4 members to say 'let's start this thing up, take nearly 25% each, give Billy 0.4% and do our best'. They'd likely beat Billy in competition as they can iterate on the codebase, Billy can not without hiring a new team. If the devs aren't interested in running that startup then they'd still be entitled to 0.4% of what Billy is going to run. (edit ignore the exact percentages, they ended up with a team of 8 devs than 4)