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Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

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Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#22

Post by bogomipz »

rdtsc wrote: post #11
alehul wrote: post #2

> Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a judge in the case noted last year that the firm has argued that Attia gave Google rights to his technology “without a condition of later payment.” So Google's defense isn't even that the substance of the accusations are false, but that they had the legal ability to do so? Is this common behavior for Google, if the story is true? This may be naive, b…

> Is this common behavior for Google, if the story is true? It depends on details of his contract. It's quite plausible his employment contract in "Project X" did say that he would transfer knowledge and ideas in exchange for money. It's pretty standard stuff. In other words, it might not be exactly a slam dunk case. A racketeering charge seems pretty outrageous as well. However if Google did these things (which look…

>"It's quite plausible his employment contract in "Project X" did say that he would transfer knowledge and ideas in exchange for money."

I'm curious about your comment that this is "pretty standard stuff." Do you mean in the context of Google X agreements? Do you transfer intellectual property to them as part of the employment contract?

Are you paid a flat fee? Do they pay a "kill" fee if Google X ultimately decides not pursue your idea and terminates your employment agreement?

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#23

Post by paul7986 »

I had a similar experience with Google; a mutual NDA was signed as seen here https://goo.gl/K9Wd1U.

- Feb 2013 created SpeakerBlast; turn multiple devices into one sync speaker via a URL

- March 2013 Samsung released the Galaxy 4 with Group Play (same concept as SpeakerBlast)

- April 2013 Google/Motorola emails/calls me asking would I sell SpeakerBlast for inclusion into the Moto X

- May 2013 Fly out from Baltimore to demo/meet with Google ATAP in the hopes of fulfilling my goal/dream of being a successful inventor. During the meeting they bait my partner and I for our secret sauce then leave the room. They come back and say time to go and lead us to the elevator and say the race is on. See ya!

As the David in this David n Goliath story I have no idea if our work was used in Chrome Audio or not. The head of that unit is run by the Google ATAP tech lead we met with.

Ive heard this is just how it is in Silicon Valley.. treat the little guy and girls like crap. Take their hard work, steal it and stomp on them. Things need to change!!!

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#24

Post by [deleted] »

alehul wrote: post #2

> Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a judge in the case noted last year that the firm has argued that Attia gave Google rights to his technology “without a condition of later payment.” So Google's defense isn't even that the substance of the accusations are false, but that they had the legal ability to do so? Is this common behavior for Google, if the story is true? This may be naive, b…

[deleted]

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#25

Post by noncoml »

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #12

In simple terms, google baited people with good ideas to join google x labs. Then pursued to cancel the projects, and thus cutting out the people who originated these ideas. Finally, google went on to use these ideas to create their own technology, and some have even graduated from Google X Labs. Basically, evil incubation.

You state it as it is fact. That’s what the plaintiff claims, yes. But it doesn’t mean it’s true.

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#27

Post by kyledrake »

alehul wrote: post #2

> Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a judge in the case noted last year that the firm has argued that Attia gave Google rights to his technology “without a condition of later payment.” So Google's defense isn't even that the substance of the accusations are false, but that they had the legal ability to do so? Is this common behavior for Google, if the story is true? This may be naive, b…

> Is this common behavior for Google, if the story is true?

Google/GV was shit listed by a bunch of startup founders in Portland many years ago because they "stole a company" they were partnering with there. The founder was somebody everybody liked and PDX tech didn't take it well (and yes, we all talk to each other).

This does happen and you need to be very careful with these sorts of arrangements. They know they put stars in people's eyes and I've seen them take advantage of it.

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#29

Post by delhanty »

paul7986 wrote: post #23

I had a similar experience with Google; a mutual NDA was signed as seen here https://goo.gl/K9Wd1U . - Feb 2013 created SpeakerBlast; turn multiple devices into one sync speaker via a URL - March 2013 Samsung released the Galaxy 4 with Group Play (same concept as SpeakerBlast) - April 2013 Google/Motorola emails/calls me asking would I sell SpeakerBlast for inclusion into the Moto X - May 2013 Fly out from Baltimore…

Thanks for sharing this. Sorry to hear about how you were given the run around.

It reminded me of the advice from one of Paul Graham's essays: Don't Talk to Corp Dev [1]

>Distractions are the thing you can least afford in a startup. And conversations with corp dev are the worst sort of distraction, because as well as consuming your attention they undermine your morale.

[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/corpdev.html

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