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It should be noted that the startup in question, Shred Video, is (YC S15). YC comment: http://blog.ycombinator.com/on-the-shred-video-lawsuit
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Almost all states enforce noncompetes, not that it's clear to me what noncompetes have to do with this. I think you should talk to a lawyer before making assessments about how unlikely it is something is to be protected. Generally: safest course is to assume it is protectable. I talked to a lawyer before starting this company and I was very surprised by how many pitfalls I hadn't even considered.
California doesn't enforce noncompetes, which is what matters in this case.
If you're an employee at Smule you should quit immediately with no notice. Make Smule hurt where Jeff Smith will feel it.
I know it's problematic for a number of reasons, but I'd sort of love to see YC throw their weight behind this -- e.g. "if you've worked at Smule beyond 23 Sept 2015, you are ineligible for consideration in any future YC rounds". It always baffles me how much power goes unused in Silicon Valley, but I suppose most of that restraint is due to personal relationships between the VCs/founders.
A lot more time is needed, e.g. "If there is no decline in the SV job market, if you're still employed by Jan 1 2016/April 1 2016...."
If they did that, it would suck a lot of oxygen out of Shred's attempt to win this battle in the court of public opinion.
All that said, I would expect YC to be putting out the word this is a very bad idea.
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Almost all states enforce noncompetes, not that it's clear to me what noncompetes have to do with this. I think you should talk to a lawyer before making assessments about how unlikely it is something is to be protected. Generally: safest course is to assume it is protectable. I talked to a lawyer before starting this company and I was very surprised by how many pitfalls I hadn't even considered.
California doesn't enforce noncompetes, which is what matters in this case.
My first instinct is to congratulate Shred for standing up to the big bully. That was really almost what I posted. But pick apart Shred's note, and really it's an emotional appeal based on two ideas: 1. That the sole test of stealing ideas is source code that has been copied verbatim. 2. That the only possible secrets of Smule are features implemented in released products. These are pretty weak legs to stand on. They…
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Hi Paul thanks for your comments. In the code comparison, the 3rd party will also be able to look at methods (in addition to code copied directly). We're more than happy to include proprietary methods in the review. On stealing "ideas," do you have some advice here? Smule has never specified what ideas they think we stole. What do you think is our burden of responsibility in proving we did not steal ideas our opponen…
"Ideas" isn't a form of IP that can be stolen. Did you patent anything? Have you appropriately protected these ideas to qualify for any sort of tradesecret protections? (ps. Don't answer. This is the sort of thing to be discussed with an attorney behind a closed door.)
If he shuts you down can you make your code open source and allow others to compete in your place? ;)
If it's because he's gained an injunction from the court, you'd be in contempt.
Hi All I'm a founder of Shred Video and the author of this article. Happy to answer any questions about our experience.
Feeling for you man - been there (recently). You'll get a lot of sideways looks from people who have no reason to doubt you. Ignore it. People always assume the person doing the suing MUST have a good reason. It's the same reason people jump ship whenever someone is accused of a crime: until it happens to you, nobody wants to believe something this destructive can happen without cause. But it does - every day. As a s…
- Never walk away from a former employer with code on your computer. - Never walk away with an employer's property. - Never walk away with a functioning email account. - Never walk away with documents. - Never walk away with paper. - Never walk away with anything. - Just walk away.