I checked this out since I wanted to release code I wrote for my research under the GPL: Where I work (UCSC), the employee owns the copyright to code he writes, unless the code was part of a deliverable for some grant (in which case it generally belongs to the grant-awarding institution). For general research grants, that's not the case. If there are potential patents, the university does claim right to those, but if there aren't, there was no problem.
How do I startup if I don't own the code?
11–20 of 27 posts
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#12If you can rewrite it from scratch, that may be the safest plan. You'll probably need to anyway. You can also go talk to the university about it, but many (perhaps most) universities are cluelessly overreaching about this sort of thing, and take forever as well.
I'm afraid of the overreaching part... I'd love to rewrite, but i'm having trouble justifying a rewrite of something that works really well as-is. Translating it to another language doesn't seem like enough.
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#13If you can rewrite it from scratch, that may be the safest plan. You'll probably need to anyway. You can also go talk to the university about it, but many (perhaps most) universities are cluelessly overreaching about this sort of thing, and take forever as well.
(Based on the OP's comment I assume that he is not starting his own company, but rather partnering with someone.)
A rewrite is probably best, but it might hinder negotiation of terms.
-Pro: Wrote the original, lessons learned and experience. -Con: Isn't bringing existing IP so might not be worth as much. -Con: Maybe someone else can write a better clone (UI expert). -Con: Clean room rewrites are tainted if you have seen the original code. Willful infringement is much more expensive.
If it was me I would try and convince the university to release under an open source license. BSD would help, but the GPL could be good too depending on sector. Then I would be free to go off and commercialize it. Open source code requires a different business model, but there are plenty of examples of success, especially for companies that own the original thinking behind the project.
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#14How long would it take you to redo what you did at the research lab?
not too long, but the concepts would be exactly the same... wouldn't it then become, "who owns the idea?"
I don't think that is the case. If you are willing to spend a few hundred dollars you can get legal counselling from a lawyer.
Also, if you are attending startup school, they might have half an hour talk from someone on legal issues and you could ask that person.
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#15If you can rewrite it from scratch, that may be the safest plan. You'll probably need to anyway. You can also go talk to the university about it, but many (perhaps most) universities are cluelessly overreaching about this sort of thing, and take forever as well.
I'm afraid of the overreaching part... I'd love to rewrite, but i'm having trouble justifying a rewrite of something that works really well as-is. Translating it to another language doesn't seem like enough.
i'm having trouble justifying a rewrite of something that works really well as-is
You're different from a lot of hackers I know.
Seriously, though, you probably will eventually rewrite most of it if you turn it into a startup. And often when people rewrite things they're glad afterwards. It will probably take less time than working out a deal with the university, and be much more interesting for you.
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#16If you can rewrite it from scratch, that may be the safest plan. You'll probably need to anyway. You can also go talk to the university about it, but many (perhaps most) universities are cluelessly overreaching about this sort of thing, and take forever as well.
I'm afraid of the overreaching part... I'd love to rewrite, but i'm having trouble justifying a rewrite of something that works really well as-is. Translating it to another language doesn't seem like enough.
Justify it by thinking of the dollars in your pocket. Right now, none, after rewrite, (possibly) many.
Sounds like a justification to me. :-)
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#17If you can rewrite it from scratch, that may be the safest plan. You'll probably need to anyway. You can also go talk to the university about it, but many (perhaps most) universities are cluelessly overreaching about this sort of thing, and take forever as well.
I'm afraid of the overreaching part... I'd love to rewrite, but i'm having trouble justifying a rewrite of something that works really well as-is. Translating it to another language doesn't seem like enough.
Just translating would probably leave it as a "derivative work". However, note that licenses like the BSD and MIT licenses came specifically from universities releasing their code under very permissive terms. Perhaps your university can be convinced to do the same.
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm afraid of the overreaching part... I'd love to rewrite, but i'm having trouble justifying a rewrite of something that works really well as-is. Translating it to another language doesn't seem like enough.
Just translating would probably leave it as a "derivative work". However, note that licenses like the BSD and MIT licenses came specifically from universities releasing their code under very permissive terms. Perhaps your university can be convinced to do the same.
How many universities have ever given a startup trouble for making software that was a "derivative work," though? Not one that I know of. In practice it's enough to rewrite under conditions where no one has claim to your IP.
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#19have someone else write the code then buy it from them.
Re: How do I startup if I don't own the code?
#20It depends on the school policies. You'll need to just find out what they are. We can't tell you that.
Some schools are quite friendly to business arrangements, while others are grabby. There are plenty of products on the market that were developed at universities and later commercialized.