Hello,
I use to work for a small company handling their IT. I quit a few months ago after being employed for a few years. During which, I had developed a couple of in house applications, and they were never meant to be sold. About 2 years ago, I started a company on the side (a one man shop), and one of my company's products was based on a program I wrote for my former employer. The program in question has a similar interface to the original one I wrote for my former employer, but there are a number of distinct differences. Also my company's program was written from the ground up, using a different programming language. The internal structure of the code is completely different as well.
I started the company while working for my former employer. I kept them "in the loop" with everything I was doing . At no point did they question any conflict of interest. As of today, they are even using 2 of my company's programs, one of which they bought.
Then out of the blue, I received a letter stating that they are claiming intellectual property and they want royalties for ALL of my company's products. I refused to give them royalties and now they want to move into litigation. Due to a bad economy, my company is barely surviving, which puts me between a rock and a hard place. If I go any further with this, it will bankrupt my company, but I don't want to settle and pay them royalties.
Where should I go from here?
I use to work for a small company handling their IT. I quit a few months ago after being employed for a few years. During which, I had developed a couple of in house applications, and they were never meant to be sold. About 2 years ago, I started a company on the side (a one man shop), and one of my company's products was based on a program I wrote for my former employer. The program in question has a similar interface to the original one I wrote for my former employer, but there are a number of distinct differences. Also my company's program was written from the ground up, using a different programming language. The internal structure of the code is completely different as well.
I started the company while working for my former employer. I kept them "in the loop" with everything I was doing . At no point did they question any conflict of interest. As of today, they are even using 2 of my company's programs, one of which they bought.
Then out of the blue, I received a letter stating that they are claiming intellectual property and they want royalties for ALL of my company's products. I refused to give them royalties and now they want to move into litigation. Due to a bad economy, my company is barely surviving, which puts me between a rock and a hard place. If I go any further with this, it will bankrupt my company, but I don't want to settle and pay them royalties.
Where should I go from here?
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