2 ms·

Stolen Web Site

8 points by Schnyder 16y ago

How should one handle the situation where a website has been built/launched as part of an informal partnership between two developers and then one of the partners "quits" and launches the a new competitive website on a different domain, but using the exact same code, design and functionality while only changing the logo? Anyone been in a similar situation before?

mishmash 16y ago
IANAL, but with no agreements in place you're probably shit out of luck.
atldev 16y ago
Reminds me of Jason Cohen's post on real competitive advantages: "What happens when employee #2 makes off with your code and roadmap and marketing data and customer list, moves to Bolivia, and starts selling your stuff world-wide at one-tenth the price?" Rest of the article here: http://blog.asmartbear.com/unfair-advantages.html http://blog.asmartbear.com/unfair-advantages.html
- Schnyder 16y ago
  That is a great article, atldev... thanks for the link. Although, it still leave me SOL. :(
pbhjpbhj 16y ago
I guess you have 2 immediate options. 1. use your version to fight for some market share 2. quit There are others but these seem like the most realistic alternatives to me. Lawyer up and fight is one other but I don't think it will bring you true resolve (or happiness) whether you win or lose. The true legal situation depends on a lot of factors and you don't give enough information to comment really on that.
lanstein 16y ago
Sort of. Sites are not exactly the same anymore, because we just pushed a new version of the site, but compare splunk.com with webskydev.com. They get bonus points for renaming our employees with Russian names. In our situation, because they're in the Ukraine, there's not much we can do about it. Does help that we're not in the same business.
staunch 16y ago
Just tell him you're going to wait to see if he's successful and then sue him and take half of it. That should bring him back to the discussion table ;-) Really though you guys need to sign a legal agreement dissolving the partnership and specifying who owns what. Otherwise neither of you can re-use any of the existing IP safely.

Stolen Web Site

8 points by Schnyder 16y ago

mishmash 16y ago

IANAL, but with no agreements in place you're probably shit out of luck.

atldev 16y ago

Reminds me of Jason Cohen's post on real competitive advantages: "What happens when employee #2 makes off with your code and roadmap and marketing data and customer list, moves to Bolivia, and starts selling your stuff world-wide at one-tenth the price?" Rest of the article here: http://blog.asmartbear.com/unfair-advantages.html http://blog.asmartbear.com/unfair-advantages.html

Schnyder 16y ago
That is a great article, atldev... thanks for the link. Although, it still leave me SOL. :(

pbhjpbhj 16y ago

I guess you have 2 immediate options. 1. use your version to fight for some market share 2. quit There are others but these seem like the most realistic alternatives to me. Lawyer up and fight is one other but I don't think it will bring you true resolve (or happiness) whether you win or lose. The true legal situation depends on a lot of factors and you don't give enough information to comment really on that.

lanstein 16y ago

Sort of. Sites are not exactly the same anymore, because we just pushed a new version of the site, but compare splunk.com with webskydev.com. They get bonus points for renaming our employees with Russian names. In our situation, because they're in the Ukraine, there's not much we can do about it. Does help that we're not in the same business.

staunch 16y ago

Just tell him you're going to wait to see if he's successful and then sue him and take half of it. That should bring him back to the discussion table ;-) Really though you guys need to sign a legal agreement dissolving the partnership and specifying who owns what. Otherwise neither of you can re-use any of the existing IP safely.