6 ms·
"Nothing came of it, but I took the code and shoved it into my back pocket for a rainy day. My idea was to take this code and spruce it up for Uber’s use case.
by Znafon 3y ago
"Nothing came of it, but I took the code and shoved it into my back pocket for a rainy day.
My idea was to take this code and spruce it up for Uber’s use case."
"My first reaction was to publish the code on Github."
I’m very surprised by this, isn’t the code property of Box, or Uber? The author does not mention their authorisation before releasing it under MIT license.
- sidewndr46 3y agoI believe this kind of story is the kind that gives most legal counsel nightmares.
- pc86 3y agoEspecially the brazenness with which the author basically says "if they want to sue me for this verified and admitted IP theft, they can." Sure, they probably won't. But they might. And if they do, you'll lose immediately. Seems like a pretty high risk no reward scenario.
- sokoloff 3y agoAnd if you lose immediately, you likely owe damages. Those damages, even if trebled, appear to be $0 here.
- pc86 3y agoWhich would be a great solace to someone who just spent $10k or more like 2-3x that responding to a lawsuit. But that's also why I agree the odds of actually getting sued are near-zero.
- Alupis 3y agoSome companies, armed with floors of attorneys and retained outside counsel, do that sort of thing just for the message alone. It costs them next to nothing, relatively, ruins the defendant regardless of outcome, and makes it clear for others to not mess around with IP.
- Aeolun 3y agoWhy would you spend any money on a suit you intend to lose?
- IshKebab 3y agoBecause you intend to lose it with 0 damages.
- akozak 3y agoPretty sure that's not how copyright damages work. Don't take legal advice on HN folks.
- concordDance 3y agoWhat makes you think that's not how it works?
- akozak 3y agohttps://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/504 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/504
- concordDance 3y agoYou could have said "There's statutory damages in of $750 or higher" in addition to providing the link. Thanks anyway.
- m00x 3y agoI'm sure they could find damages amounting to a large enough amount that OP would regret.
- kopecs 3y agoExcept there are statutory damages for copyright infringement.
- concordDance 3y agoNot all rewards are monetary, in this case the reward is thinking his tool might be used by others at some point.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- michael1999 3y agoUber and the people they hired never struck me as particularly concerned by things like "laws" and "property".
- pavlov 3y agoOh, you’re missing a few qualifiers. They’re not concerned with laws applied to them, and other people’s property. But in all other cases they’re big believers in law and using it to protect their property.
- PNWChris 3y agoThe Levandowski lawsuit comes to mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Levandowski#Civil_lawsuit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Levandowski#Civil_laws... --- Edit: Since I enjoyed OP's story, I thought I should clarify a bit. I'm speaking broadly of how I remember (from the outside) Uber's fast-and-loose IP attitudes in the 2010s. I don't think OP did anything of a similar sort. From comments here it sounds like they used some code they built in their free time that a previous employer didn't want. At Uber it sounds like they asked and were permitted to post their no-longer-needed code to GitHub. It's got its own GH org and everything. This whole chain is legally risky (I wouldn't do it and would strongly advise others not to do it). I feel OPs actions are not Ethically Wrong, though. I wouldn't enjoy living in a world where OP gets sued for this, since it sounds like nobody at work wanted the work and it's not giving competitors an advantage. I won't claim the world isn't like that, though. I really wish I could share OP's attitude and sense of ownership. I built something really cool (entirely in my free time) for a previous employer's hackathon. That code lives on some server they own now, possibly deleted. I deleted my copy after submitting it to the hackathon because I didn't want to risk anything. Company lawyers make just building things for fun feel so risky! It takes the soul out of our work.
- bastawhiz 3y agoAuthor here. The code was originally written outside of work hours. I offered the code to Box and they didn't want it. If Uber wants a few thousand lines of JavaScript from over half a decade ago that didn't originate with them and that they used for less than a month, they can send me a letter.
- tempaway85751 3y ago... Nothing came of it, but I took the code and shoved it into my back pocket for a rainy day ... You can't really do this. Depends on your employment contract but code you write for an employer is usually copyright to them ... My first reaction was to publish the code on Github ... You can't really do that either.
- bastawhiz 3y agoI mean, I asked at the time, and I did it. If either company wants to start a legal fight over a pile of code that neither of them wanted that's old enough to be in elementary school, they know how to reach me.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- tempaway85751 3y agoFair enough. But I'll leave my comment there as general advice for other readers enjoyed the article, the bit about Excel circular ref linear regression was wild
- lowbloodsugar 3y agoThe problem is that you are claiming ownership of this code and by making it available on GitHub under an MIT license you are claiming that you have the right to do so. If I take that code and make a billion dollar business out of it, Box or Uber could then claim a share of it. That's the kind of things that companies do with the lawyers on retainer. I then sue you for falsely claiming that you own it. You are particularly fucked because, thanks to this thread, you can't claim that you didn't know. Even in California the "I wrote it on my own time" doesn't apply to software that relates to an employer's core business. In other places, like Washington State, you could be employed to write TPS reports and write a video game at home, and your employer would own that too. IANAL but I have paid for advice on this very topic. I suggest you pay one too.
- kgilpin 3y agoRight. This is so risky. Having to use your personal resources to defend yourself against a lawsuit brought by a large corporation - really sucks.
- _lvbh 3y agoI find it seriously disgusting that we have given rights to corporations so that they can sue someone over work they did in their own free time.