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"But rather than negotiating a deal, Alcatel fired Brown and sued him for ownership of the idea. After a seven-year-long court battle, he lost and was forced to
by kutkloon7 10y ago
"But rather than negotiating a deal, Alcatel fired Brown and sued him for ownership of the idea. After a seven-year-long court battle, he lost and was forced to spend three months at the company’s offices, without pay, writing out the code to implement his solution."
I deeply hate the judge who made this verdict. You must be truly devoid of human feeling and common sense to explain this as a reasonable application of the law.
- Thrillington 10y agoIt's morally bankrupt, but legally correct.
- tgragnato 10y agoIf it's legally correct, then the law is so flawed.
- sitkack 10y agoWhy is he obligated to implement a solution? The IP is the idea, not the implementation of it.
- marcoperaza 10y agoI'm not familiar with the case, but others are saying that it was the terms of a settlement, not the court ruling.
- teej 10y agoA judge can compel someone to work without pay? Is that not slavery?
- gubwerd 10y agoThere's an exception to the US Constitution's abolition of slavery: punishment for a crime. Fortunately, contract disputes are civil rather than criminal.
- brazzledazzle 10y agoIf I didn't have a family I would have considered fleeing the country. Or come into the office every day for the three months naked. After such an insane verdict I'd like to believe that Alcatel's top talent started jumping ship.
- petethepig 10y ago> come into the office every day for the three months naked And get charged with sexual harassment
- spinlock 10y agoI don't get why he didnt' make up some bullshit and call it his great idea. Tell them he thought up a way to train monkeys to reverse compile FORTRAN.
- AlexCoventry 10y agoI can't find the decision, but I doubt he was forced to by the judge. It seems more likely that he negotiated this for a discount on the stupendous court costs. For instance, here's a 2002 report on the loss which doesn't mention the requirement. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/12/alcatel_owns_us_employees_thoughts/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/12/alcatel_owns_us_emp...
- tedmiston 10y agoNote that it was decided in Texas. Probably the single worst place to legally deal with software IP.