7 ms·

Little encouragement, no funding: why open source founders are leaving EU

21 points by thibo_skabgia 3y ago

n_ary 3y ago
OSS is a mess in EU. In Germany, signing a FTE contract also entails implicitly that, if I produce something over the weekends, my employer has legal power to claim it as their IP. If I probably contribute something to some open-source project, my employer can also claim royalty of that too. While there are not much precedents of these happening, the legal rights remain. Also, non-compete is implicit too. Also, general brilliant people loved to hold onto their motes and not contribute back, a strange tendency I noticed on corps from senior engineer peers. That being said, not everything is dark and there are plenty of open source work going in EU.
- agos 3y ago
  if it hasn't been proved in a court, can we really say that there is a legal right?
- Timon3 3y ago
  > Also, non-compete is implicit too. I'm not sure what you mean. Non-competes must be explicitly signed.
- trh0awayman 3y ago
  > In Germany, signing a FTE contract also entails implicitly that, if I produce something over the weekends, my employer has legal power to claim it as their IP. What gave you that idea? In fact, I was under the impression that Germany has pretty strong protections in that arena.
- mcv 3y ago
  That must be Germany-specific because I don't think that's universal. As far as I know, anything I write in my free time is mine, unless maybe my employer can prove it's directly related to my work for them. And most companies I worked for were very supportive of open source, one of them actively involved in several Apache projects and employing committers for several projects, on top of releasing their own software as open source.
  - wizhi 3y ago
    Most companies I've worked for (Denmark) has had a similar clause in their contracts. No clue if it holds up in court though.
- awesomeMilou 3y ago
  > if I produce something over the weekends, my employer has legal power to claim it as their IP I live in Germany and I'm certain you are mistaken. The situation becomes different if you so much as looked at your OSS projects during work hours, but the projects you work on in your free time are yours. This is similar to how your FT employer can't keep you from taking up another part time job on the weekends. Just because your contract has such a clause doesn't mean it's enforcable in court.
PeterStuer 3y ago
Unlike the $, printing € is not free. Reserve currency privileges. And they are locating their business in Delaware. I wonder why. Wouldn't have anything to do with taxes, surely.
- mvid 3y ago
  If you want to avoid taxes, you don’t choose Delaware. You choose Delaware if you want to take investment and potentially IPO
snowpid 3y ago
Its the never-ending story of lack of capital on the European start up eco system. There was progress on that field but it takes so much time...
fabbari 3y ago
I try to explain to my U.S. colleagues that the fundamental difference is in the approach to funding. In the States there is a ‘gambling’ approach to funding: I fund 100 initiatives 1 coin and I expect one if them will give me back 10000 coins in a number of years and all the others are a loss. In Italy - were I have had direct experience - the approach is more of a short term investement: I give you 1 coin and expect 1.05 in two years.

21 points by thibo_skabgia 3y ago

OSS is a mess in EU. In Germany, signing a FTE contract also entails implicitly that, if I produce something over the weekends, my employer has legal power to claim it as their IP. If I probably contribute something to some open-source project, my employer can also claim royalty of that too. While there are not much precedents of these happening, the legal rights remain. Also, non-compete is implicit too. Also, general brilliant people loved to hold onto their motes and not contribute back, a strange tendency I noticed on corps from senior engineer peers. That being said, not everything is dark and there are plenty of open source work going in EU.

agos 3y ago
if it hasn't been proved in a court, can we really say that there is a legal right?
Timon3 3y ago
> Also, non-compete is implicit too. I'm not sure what you mean. Non-competes must be explicitly signed.
trh0awayman 3y ago
> In Germany, signing a FTE contract also entails implicitly that, if I produce something over the weekends, my employer has legal power to claim it as their IP. What gave you that idea? In fact, I was under the impression that Germany has pretty strong protections in that arena.
mcv 3y ago
That must be Germany-specific because I don't think that's universal. As far as I know, anything I write in my free time is mine, unless maybe my employer can prove it's directly related to my work for them. And most companies I worked for were very supportive of open source, one of them actively involved in several Apache projects and employing committers for several projects, on top of releasing their own software as open source.
- wizhi 3y ago
  Most companies I've worked for (Denmark) has had a similar clause in their contracts. No clue if it holds up in court though.
awesomeMilou 3y ago
> if I produce something over the weekends, my employer has legal power to claim it as their IP I live in Germany and I'm certain you are mistaken. The situation becomes different if you so much as looked at your OSS projects during work hours, but the projects you work on in your free time are yours. This is similar to how your FT employer can't keep you from taking up another part time job on the weekends. Just because your contract has such a clause doesn't mean it's enforcable in court.

PeterStuer 3y ago

Unlike the $, printing € is not free. Reserve currency privileges. And they are locating their business in Delaware. I wonder why. Wouldn't have anything to do with taxes, surely.

mvid 3y ago
If you want to avoid taxes, you don’t choose Delaware. You choose Delaware if you want to take investment and potentially IPO

snowpid 3y ago

Its the never-ending story of lack of capital on the European start up eco system. There was progress on that field but it takes so much time...

fabbari 3y ago

I try to explain to my U.S. colleagues that the fundamental difference is in the approach to funding. In the States there is a ‘gambling’ approach to funding: I fund 100 initiatives 1 coin and I expect one if them will give me back 10000 coins in a number of years and all the others are a loss. In Italy - were I have had direct experience - the approach is more of a short term investement: I give you 1 coin and expect 1.05 in two years.