> I was surprised that the company didn't just sue him for not giving up company property. Perhaps the executives of the company weren't knee-jerkingly litigi

> I was surprised that the company didn't just sue him for not giving up company property. Perhaps the executives of the company weren't knee-jerkingly litigious idiots, and realized that their money would be better spent improving their operational efficiencies than paying their lawyers to acquire a metaphorical bucket of water while the tap from which it came runs permanently dry. Litigation is expensive, and sane businesspeople don't casually file lawsuits that deliver no strategic value to their companies. No matter how legally valid the argument may be that the code is company property, the fact remains that the code wasn't the product of 'company time'; it was the product of skill, creativity, and initiative whose benefits the company clearly does not and cannot have without the willing cooperation of this individual. Why make enemies when you can make friends?