My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me • Hacker News Board

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#241

Post by wpietri » Wed, May 01, 2013, 9:28 PM UTC

HelloMcFly wrote: post #84

wpietri wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I know from this and the news articles is that Opera has sued a former employee for $3.4 million because they think he gave secret information to a nonprofit. The guy hasn't worked there full time since 2006, but Opera has decided to seriously fuck up his life. What more do I need to know? Google has a thousand times as many employees, but when's the last time they sued one of them like this? Were I in Opera's s…

> ...because they think he gave secret information to a nonprofit. That it is a non-profit is hardly meaningful. It's still a competitor, a competitor that seeks surplus revenues. It doesn't make the lawsuit any more or less valid. > What more do I need to know? How about the facts of the case rather than the surface-level circumstances? That's probably a start. I'm not saying Opera is in the right for this, but I th…

It doesn't make the lawsuit more or less valid. But that's for courts to decide. It does make Opera more a jerk for pursuing it, which is what I am focusing on here.

By your logic, I should really wait for the case to be resolved to have an opinion on it. That, again, is the right take for a judge. But personally, I think companies suing employees is almost always a bad idea, especially when a) it looks like a way of getting back at a competitor, and b) it could have a chilling effect on innovation. So if Opera wants me to not see them as bullies, they are welcome to make a statement about why they're suing. If they do that, my opinion may change, but I'm perfectly comfortable keeping my opinion.

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#242

Post by tripzilch » Wed, May 01, 2013, 9:39 PM UTC

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #179

MertsA wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uhh, maybe you should try that in Chrome. The very first item on the drop down menu that comes up is the back button and no you don't need to release right click to click on it. Also, it's even faster than Opera, you can just right click and then release it over back and not have to left click at all.

It's not using 'back'. It's a 'rocker' gesture to navigate between tabs. Right click anywhere, then left click while holding it, move to the left tab. And vice versa.

I may be confused what you're referring to, but switching between tabs is right click + scroll wheel.

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#243

Post by qu4z-2 » Thu, May 02, 2013, 5:08 AM UTC

stinos wrote: post #187

coldtea wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the public for Opera is bizarro outliers? (100 tabs! Love of mouse gestures!)

I acknowledge your point on the tabs, but not on the gestures. It provides a genius way execute actions, probably faster than anything else. I would almost say that is a fact, and that if you don't agree then it's because you haven't used it.

I'm still using firefox because of pentadactyl. It lets you switch to a tab by substring search of title/url.

If you have 100 tabs open (I often do too) how do you switch to a specific tab with mouse gestures?

(Genuinely curious; seems a shame to have to specify, but I don't want to be misunderstood)

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#244

Post by marshray » Thu, May 02, 2013, 2:20 PM UTC

DannyBee wrote: post #110

hkmurakami wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am honestly surprised that Mozilla's legal counsel has not stepped in already to offer advice and guidance. (this post is something that such an intervention most likely would have stopped)

They probably are, just not directly to him, but to his lawyers. At least, for the US-side lawyers (I'm presuming Mozilla's US lawyers are on this one) due to conflict-of-interest rules, they would not be able to step in to offer advice and guidance to him directly, because the representation would probably be adverse to Mozilla's interests. The rule in most states (based on the ABA model rules) is " A concurrent con…

It might also be a bit "adverse to Mozilla's interests" if they were less able to hire experienced developers in the future because they got a reputation of not sticking up for their current ones.

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#245

Post by Androidmeda » Thu, May 02, 2013, 7:40 PM UTC

papaver wrote: post #46

pretty sad to here this from opera. i've been an avid opera user for the last 10 years. i haven't seen as much innovation in any other browser like ive seen in opera. from mouse gestures to tab grouping to the closed tabs list to a million other features that were first in opera and slowly migrated to all the other browsers. sure websites sometimes didn't render properly and no one ever cared to properly support it,…

Why would the current CEO be ousted? Why are you mad at him instead of the guy who allegedly stole Opera's business secret and sold them to a competitor?

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#246

Post by Androidmeda » Thu, May 02, 2013, 7:43 PM UTC

dkrich wrote: post #114

I'll admit that I am no IP expert but I'm told that winning an IP suit is impossibly difficult and extremely expensive. To pursue it, you really better believe that you have a tremendous amount of upside (ie, deep pockets on the other side) and that you have a very strong case. You might say that they are "just suing for $3.4 million" and that they might settle out of court, but I'd bet that unless Opera has a really…

I don't think this is a regular IP suit. It's more like a breach of contract or something. Opera likely hadn't legally protected the features/designs that were stolen, which would be why the theft would be such a bad thing for them.

It's been a year since the video that triggered the lawsuit was published. I doubt that someone at Opera has been pissed off for a year and done this without thinking through it at all.

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#247

Post by TheCoelacanth » Fri, May 03, 2013, 7:00 PM UTC

AndyNemmity wrote: post #206

felipe wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is incorrect. Any company must act in the best interest of its shareholders. A publicly-traded company must maximize profit because that's the implicit nature of it: I buy stock in the market because I want a return on my investment. But if all shareholders of a given company (say, Mozilla) want to produce something for the good of the Internet and not make a profit, that's up to the shareholders. A "non-profit"…

Corporations in the United States are legally obligated to maximize profit. It's not an implicit nature, it's an explicit legal requirement.

Even if that were true, only the shareholders would have standing to sue them for failing to maximize profit. Clearly the only shareholder, the Mozilla Foundation, is not going to sue Mozilla Corporation for doing what the shareholder wants it to.

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#248

Post by fakeer » Mon, May 06, 2013, 3:47 AM UTC

prof_hobart wrote: post #192

fakeer wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facts? I've recently developed some (parts) of Android framework for my current employer (which is as of now unique to this OEM phones) and I am seriously looking for a job change for various reasons. Now if my new employer hires me for the same role and I am asked to do the same thing again(and I'll mention this work on my resume and interview), I'll do it. Otherwise, what am I gonna do? Make railway engines for the…

> if my new employer hires me for the same role and I am asked to do the same thing again(and I'll mention this work on my resume and interview), I'll do it. Otherwise, what am I gonna do? Make railway engines for them or rockets or weave yards of fabric? There's a big difference between your old company and your new company both asking you to implement (for example) a unified search box, and your new company asking…

I doubt the latter case is not a breach of contract IMHO. The thing is, my job is not to implement a search box when I'm told to, but my job is also to tell my employer that a search box is needed when asked about s possible new feature - AAMOF I think the latter is more important part of my job.

An IP or a potential IP(applied or under process for application) is an entirely different thing. This specifically binds you legally not to discuss openly.

And I think even the idea of suggesting a "search box" can be a legal matter iff you had signed a specific contact/nda for that. Otherwise it's well within your general knowledge of your field of expertise for which you were hired in the first place. Ofcourse no one can stop legal trolling.

Jumping to conclusions is a byproduct of discussion. Nothing bad I see in them. As an intelligent species we often conclude based on known facts and (un)intelligent and educated guesses, and often are proved right and wrong. Some ending up in each side.

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#249

Post by fakeer » Mon, May 06, 2013, 3:48 AM UTC

prof_hobart wrote: post #192

fakeer wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facts? I've recently developed some (parts) of Android framework for my current employer (which is as of now unique to this OEM phones) and I am seriously looking for a job change for various reasons. Now if my new employer hires me for the same role and I am asked to do the same thing again(and I'll mention this work on my resume and interview), I'll do it. Otherwise, what am I gonna do? Make railway engines for the…

> if my new employer hires me for the same role and I am asked to do the same thing again(and I'll mention this work on my resume and interview), I'll do it. Otherwise, what am I gonna do? Make railway engines for them or rockets or weave yards of fabric? There's a big difference between your old company and your new company both asking you to implement (for example) a unified search box, and your new company asking…

I doubt the latter case is not a breach of contract IMHO. The thing is, my job is not to implement a search box when I'm told to, but my job is also to tell my employer that a search box is needed when asked about s possible new feature - AAMOF I think the latter is more important part of my job.

An IP or a potential IP(applied or under process for application) is an entirely different thing. This specifically binds you legally not to discuss openly.

And I think even the idea of suggesting a "search box" can be a legal matter iff you had signed a specific contact/nda for that. Otherwise it's well within your general knowledge of your field of expertise for which you were hired in the first place. Ofcourse no one can stop legal trolling.

Jumping to conclusions is a byproduct of discussion. Nothing bad I see in them. As an intelligent species we often conclude based on known facts and (un)intelligent and educated guesses, and often are proved right and wrong. Some ending up in each side.

Re: My former employer Opera Software has filed a lawsuit against me

#250

Post by fakeer » Mon, May 06, 2013, 3:48 AM UTC

prof_hobart wrote: post #192

fakeer wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facts? I've recently developed some (parts) of Android framework for my current employer (which is as of now unique to this OEM phones) and I am seriously looking for a job change for various reasons. Now if my new employer hires me for the same role and I am asked to do the same thing again(and I'll mention this work on my resume and interview), I'll do it. Otherwise, what am I gonna do? Make railway engines for the…

> if my new employer hires me for the same role and I am asked to do the same thing again(and I'll mention this work on my resume and interview), I'll do it. Otherwise, what am I gonna do? Make railway engines for them or rockets or weave yards of fabric? There's a big difference between your old company and your new company both asking you to implement (for example) a unified search box, and your new company asking…

I doubt the latter case is not a breach of contract IMHO. The thing is, my job is not to implement a search box when I'm told to, but my job is also to tell my employer that a search box is needed when asked about s possible new feature - AAMOF I think the latter is more important part of my job.

An IP or a potential IP(applied or under process for application) is an entirely different thing. This specifically binds you legally not to discuss openly.

And I think even the idea of suggesting a "search box" can be a legal matter iff you had signed a specific contact/nda for that. Otherwise it's well within your general knowledge of your field of expertise for which you were hired in the first place. Ofcourse no one can stop legal trolling.

Jumping to conclusions is a byproduct of discussion. Nothing bad I see in them. As an intelligent species we often conclude based on known facts and (un)intelligent and educated guesses, and often are proved right and wrong. Some ending up in each side.