Intellectual property / ideas - born of a session?

[Guest JenniferOfDenver]

So I just spent a delightful several hours conversing with a brilliant individual. During our meeting, we sparked bigtime as our brains felt each other up. Creative juices flowed until everything was moist and satiated. I actually stopped talking.

Here's the question: Jointly created intellectual property is, of course, jointly owned. Overly simplistic, but stay with me here--say, for example, we came up with a really good idea together, who owns it?

Is it like a joint custody thing? Or, whoever takes the ball and runs with it? Is an oral agreement--"Use it for your tuition fund"--actually binding?

My ex interpreted an oral agreement as the vertical rhythmic motion of heads during oral sex. Unless two or more eyes were closed, in which case there were no eyewitnesses. He is a contract attorney and therefore entirely credible.

This idea requires little startup capital, caters to the fears (perhaps justified) of a particular target market who will purchase this product line, guaran-damn-teed. Who knows, it may even be effective, although no claims can be made, and the disclaimer clearly states: For entertainment purposes only.

We have credentialed professionals on board, and I intend to let them know on Monday.

Seriously, what if a lady and a gentleman created something important during their time together? It's entirely possible that two musicians could write a song, or two authors could pen something memorable and marketable ... however, the resulting documentation could require utmost discretion.

I registered the domain names, because I believe this will put at least a few dollars into my tuition fund.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Kaduk

[fork]

Let the lawsuits begin.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Kaduk

[Guest JenniferOfDenver]

Let the lawsuits begin.

Fork, Queue.

There's a line over there ...

Edited August 5, 2012 by Kaduk

[Guest hgritstoo]

I'll take a stab at it....from the point of view of a software guy. I'm not a lawyer.

Software rights are based upon implementation by code/algorythm. Not the basic idea.

No one is gonna take a lady to court and try to make a case the you both came up with the idea in the horizonta mamba.

Now...if you guys were writing code together, and his notes look a lot like yours, well then "you got some splainin to do Lucy,"

Edited August 5, 2012 by Kaduk

[FatDog]

instead of trying to weasel out of paying the dude his fair share of the idea, why dont you just go to him and ask if he wants to participate in the business venture. ie he kicks in some cash. you might be surprised, he might say no, then have him sign off on it.

Edited August 5, 2012 by Kaduk

[itieyou]

+1 fatdog is right

Edited August 5, 2012 by Kaduk

[Guest Jake]

Intellectual property...yeah...

I live and work in the Boulder area...where every other person you pass on the street is an amateur entrepeneur. There are always great ideas and interesting concepts floating around in the air. I've been approached well over a 100 times...and I'm the guy that gets to dash hopes and dreams by explaining patent law...and more significantly...calculating start up costs.

My suggestion..if a patent applies, get a lawyer (not you) and have the research done. You would be shocked as to how extensive corporation owned patents will extend...ie the big companies already own a piece of almost anything you can think of. Then...calculate the start up costs, be as accurate as you possibly can...then quadruple that figure.

There is greater potential to sell your intellectual property to a corporation that already possesses the patents and financial resources to turn it into a reality.

With all that said...corporate attorneys will let you know just how much your intellectual property is worth. "Hey...great idea...here's a couple bucks for bringing it to us...now go away".

Depending on the nature of your intellectual property...you may be able to collaborate on a grant proposal to develope it further..and line your pockets that way.

Best of luck in your venture...just remember...the better the idea...the more expensive the lawyers that will strip you of it.

[Guest JenniferOfDenver]

instead of trying to weasel out of paying the dude his fair share of the idea, why dont you just go to him and ask if he wants to participate in the business venture. ie he kicks in some cash. you might be surprised, he might say no, then have him sign off on it.

Participation in the venture is exactly what I suggested.

"My wife won't like it" was the response.

Hence, the big picture, and main purpose of this discussion:

"...What if a lady and a gentleman created something important during their time together? It's entirely possible that two musicians could write a song, or two authors could pen something memorable and marketable ... However, the resulting documentation could require utmost discretion."

[Guest JenniferOfDenver]

Intellectual property...yeah...

I live and work in the Boulder area...where every other person you pass on the street is an amateur entrepeneur. There are always great ideas and interesting concepts floating around in the air. I've been approached well over a 100 times...and I'm the guy that gets to dash hopes and dreams by explaining patent law...and more significantly...calculating start up costs.

My suggestion..if a patent applies, get a lawyer (not you) and have the research done. You would be shocked as to how extensive corporation owned patents will extend...ie the big companies already own a piece of almost anything you can think of. Then...calculate the start up costs, be as accurate as you possibly can...then quadruple that figure.

There is greater potential to sell your intellectual property to a corporation that already possesses the patents and financial resources to turn it into a reality.

With all that said...corporate attorneys will let you know just how much your intellectual property is worth. "Hey...great idea...here's a couple bucks for bringing it to us...now go away".

Depending on the nature of your intellectual property...you may be able to collaborate on a grant proposal to develop it further..and line your pockets that way.

Best of luck in your venture...just remember...the better the idea...the more expensive the lawyers that will strip you of it.

Well said, Jake--nicely done, and thank you for your insightful and honest response. You're exactly right.

...the more expensive the lawyers that will strip you of it.

Expensive lawyers get away with all kinds of stuff. I'm out to even the field.