One more possible explanation: Maybe the employee sees greater potential at another employer (whether for positive impact on the world, or just better executio

One more possible explanation: Maybe the employee sees greater potential at another employer (whether for positive impact on the world, or just better execution of their own vision, or whatever) and wants to pick up where they left off, instead of having to restart. Everyone seems to assume some explanation involving money or laziness, but it could be for a less selfish (though still illegal/immoral) reason. While I wouldn’t steal IP, I can appreciate a somewhat similar sentiment: looking forward to patents expiring. There are too many scenarios where a company creates and patents some new invention, only to produce some product that kinda sucks… until the patent expires and someone comes along and does it right and at a lower price.