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You missed my point:

"If you think that its simply a case of not using your old employers code then you're naive".

A third-party code review would do little or nothing to prove whether Shred have "stolen" anything.

Suppose you and I both wrote our own authentication systems (the horror!) - I'm sure we'd create much the same functionality wise but our code would probably look vastly different.

The code base is not important here.

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Then what is important? What do you figure was stolen here that is concrete enough to be a cause for legal action but so nebulous that the presence of the stolen "thing" in Shred's code base would be completely invisible to third-party investigators who were looking for it specifically?

In this scenario, I imagine it's the idea itself. The app shred has developed is reasonably within the market with which Smule operates.

Smule is likely arguing that the IP was created whilst the founders were under their employment and thus belongs to them as a company.

Its a shitty practise but its very much the norm and one of the advantages of consulting over employment.

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