4 ms·
At my previous company, we had a patent lawyer who would always ask around if anything we developers did were patentable. I would always downplay what I was doi
by patentavoidance 16y ago
At my previous company, we had a patent lawyer who would always ask around if anything we developers did were patentable. I would always downplay what I was doing and come up with things that might be prior-art.
My thinking is this: Even though the company would only use it for "defensive purposes" (which I believe), you never know who owns the company tomorrow. And you are not going to work there tomorrow either, so you might be the one being sued.
Instead, I would try to get permission to blog about it, so it is available for everyone -- including my future self.
I recommend everyone else do the same!
(Throw-away account - I'm not sure future employers want this)
- jacquesm 16y agoWhat a fantastic position to take.
- adnam 16y agoIt's amazing that for fear of future repercussions, someone would create a throw-away account to express a sentiment such as this.
- adamc 16y agoIt's an excellent justification for allowing throw-away accounts.
- helveticaman 16y agoAlthough one could have a "make throwaway account" link from the account page.
- DougBTX 16y agoOr like Slashdot, and have a "post this anonymously" checkbox.
- minalecs 16y agoallow posting anonymously could work too, but that could open up a whole new can of worms.
- technomancy 16y ago> we had a patent lawyer who would always ask around if anything we developers did were patentable. Easy answer: "of course there's nothing patentable here--it's software!"
- 16s 16y agoIf RMS were your cube mate, the lawyers would run in fear. They might walk around asking these sort of questions once but never again.
- mahmud 16y agoYes, they would only ask him once: after which he goes on a violent tirade, leading to his quick and immediate .. departure.