Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

news.ycombinator.com

11–20 of 42 posts

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#11
Go find a good lawyer. The funding under the H2020 programme is usually granted only on projects that do not produce a "ready-to-go" product at the end of the project. It should be in a prototype-state.

If you claim that your component IS a major part of their product and service, chances are that the European Comission might take a closer look on it.

However, you'll need a long and steady breath, as we are talking about months and years until sth. happens.

Your best option at first might be, as pointed out by others, to approach them and seek for a license agreement.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#12

I believe you would need to threaten to sue, or sue. That costs time, money, and/or a lawyer's time, which costs a lot of money. Additionally, you might not win. Shitty/unethical companies do this a lot. They find clients and they pay engineers to make everything work ASAP. Your code was a convenient way to fix everything with plausible deniability. I'm sorry for this, and I hope you do win if you sue! If you were in…

> Sadly, I can't obtain a law license without first paying $140,000 in mandatory tuition

If you’re willing to live in Wyoming during law school, U of W offers free law school to anyone that gets accepted even those from out of state. The campus is super cute in a small town. If that is your thing, it’s a good deal. My brother in law took this route and he LOVED it. He moved from the east coast and plans to stay. He even convinced is girlfriend (from the east coast) to move there and now they’re married with kids.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#13
1. Are you willing to invest the money to go after them? Good lawyers are expensive (think hundreds of euros per hour)

2. Courts generally move slow. It might take years before you have a positive judgement. You will likely need to sue in their jurisdiction, which puts you at a disadvantage because you do not know the language and legal procedures.

3. And this is the most important one: even if you get a positive judgement, the company is likely to be a limited liability company which can declare bankruptcy.

Did they set up an SPV (read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special-purpose_entity) for this project, or is this a larger company with stable revenue and profits that has done this?

If at the end of the day you can collect €150,000 (as an example), you might go and collect from someone with no cash in their account. They can and will declare bankruptcy. Then you're out of pocket legal fees, with no way of recovering them, and with no compensation.

Consider this before you decide to sue.

It might be easier to just sell them the tech for a reasonable amount of money. I would not threaten to "expose" them with the H2020 programme as this might take away their source of funding -- it makes it less likely they will buy your tech.

I would reach out with a friendly email, telling them you noticed they used your library, and that you are aware they received funding because of it. Offer to sell them the library for a reasonable amount.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#14
It might make more sense to outsell them. Advertise your library as being used in a successful commercial product yet better supported by the original developer which is you.

This idea that you own intellectual property is questionable. If someone hears your story or song or sees a picture you drew or downloads some source code then that has escaped into the wild and is no longer controlled. Given how much effort leads nowhere at all it is a kind of gift to be valued in this way.

Instead of trying to own things that are conceptual and cannot be owned it makes more sense to control release and advancement. Get people to pay up before any source code can be downloaded, and once the designs or code or whatever is out there then offer more and better to the highest and best bidders.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#15
May I ask why you made this source code publicly available but didn't put a license on it? What was your motivation?

In general, using unlicensed software code poses a large risk for any serious company (corporations even use specialized software to check the license of every open-source project they use), so you might be able to convince them to buy a proper license from you or stop using the code. If they won't you can take legal action.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#16

May I ask why you made this source code publicly available but didn't put a license on it? What was your motivation? In general, using unlicensed software code poses a large risk for any serious company (corporations even use specialized software to check the license of every open-source project they use), so you might be able to convince them to buy a proper license from you or stop using the code. If they won't you…

Having some public code out there is good for attracting attention from employers.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#17

I believe you would need to threaten to sue, or sue. That costs time, money, and/or a lawyer's time, which costs a lot of money. Additionally, you might not win. Shitty/unethical companies do this a lot. They find clients and they pay engineers to make everything work ASAP. Your code was a convenient way to fix everything with plausible deniability. I'm sorry for this, and I hope you do win if you sue! If you were in…

> Sadly, I can't obtain a law license without first paying $140,000 in mandatory tuition If you’re willing to live in Wyoming during law school, U of W offers free law school to anyone that gets accepted even those from out of state. The campus is super cute in a small town. If that is your thing, it’s a good deal. My brother in law took this route and he LOVED it. He moved from the east coast and plans to stay. He e…

By free I'm guessing you mean funded by tax payers?

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#18
post #16

May I ask why you made this source code publicly available but didn't put a license on it? What was your motivation? In general, using unlicensed software code poses a large risk for any serious company (corporations even use specialized software to check the license of every open-source project they use), so you might be able to convince them to buy a proper license from you or stop using the code. If they won't you…

Having some public code out there is good for attracting attention from employers.

That doesn't excuse not picking a license for it. explicit > implicit...

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sadly, I can't obtain a law license without first paying $140,000 in mandatory tuition If you’re willing to live in Wyoming during law school, U of W offers free law school to anyone that gets accepted even those from out of state. The campus is super cute in a small town. If that is your thing, it’s a good deal. My brother in law took this route and he LOVED it. He moved from the east coast and plans to stay. He e…

By free I'm guessing you mean funded by tax payers?

Yes. Funded by state taxes. It is an effort to reduce brain drain, attract higher wage business and diversify the economy. From my datapoint of 1, it seems to be working. My brother in-laws wife is a nurse. WY is in desperate need of nurses and she found a well paying job there. Had my brother in law not gone to law school there she would have never looked for a job there and they wouldn’t have been able to fill that position. Btw, her salary in WY is way higher than on the east coast.

Re: Ask HN: A company used my source code for their product. What can I do?

#20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having some public code out there is good for attracting attention from employers.

That doesn't excuse not picking a license for it. explicit > implicit...

the fault is with the person who used unlicensed code. OP did nothing wrong if he wasn't explicitly choosing to permissively license it. sounds from his reaction that he wasn't. that's ok.
Post reply on HN