> Are there precedents for this in the tech world, where somebody can legally bring IP with them to a new role but the old employer/competitor keeps an exact co

> Are there precedents for this in the tech world, where somebody can legally bring IP with them to a new role but the old employer/competitor keeps an exact copy? This is actually the standard arrangement, depending on how you define "tech world". In California for example a Proprietary Information And Inventions Agreement will include a provision along the lines of: > If, in the course of my employment with the Company, I incorporate a Prior Invention into a Company product, process or machine, the Company is hereby granted and shall have a nonexclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide license (with rights to sublicense through multiple tiers of sublicensees) to make, have made, modify, use and sell such Prior Invention. Notwithstanding the foregoing, I agree that I will not incorporate, or permit to be incorporated, Prior Inventions in any Company Inventions without the Company’s prior written consent. Meaning anything you created before remains yours, even if, out of the kindness of your heart, you allow your employer to benefit from it. What's unusual in Silver's case is maintaining that arrangement for a) the founder of a company, and b) through an acquisition.