Ask HN: My former employer wants my sig for a patent filing. Should I bother? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: My former employer wants my sig for a patent filing. Should I bother?

4 pointspatentaskhn8 comments

I left a large tech megacorp a few years ago and their lawyers recently contacted me to obtain my signature for a foreign patent filing. I'm pretty indifferent to the company but not a huge fan of the patent system. On the other hand, it is a pretty easy ask. I don't see myself working at this company again, but I might, in a pinch. I don't really want this to come to bite me in the ass later.

So, what should I do?

1) Just sign the doc for them

2) Ask for some sort of payment

3) Just ignore it all and hope it goes away?

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Sign it and put it on your resume. Even as a filing its something to show to future employers. Not sure how it could bite you in the ass. Of course read it first and make sure it's factual.

The thing is I don't really need some foreign patent filing to pad my resume.

Things change, you might not want it now, but you could in the future.

Ask for a copy printed on nice pretty paper and frame it.

Note, you might have already promised to sign the papers.

1) many employment or separation agreements include terms where the employee agrees to cooperate with such things after they leave. 2) your employment agreement probably assigned your IP rights to the company 3) most (all?) countries have patent application procedures that anticipate uncooperative or unavailable inventors

If you refuse to cooperate, you will cost your former employer money while they work through the uncooperative inventor procedures for the country.

If it was a US patent application and you did not have a prior obligation to assign your rights, you could refuse to sign, which would block the patent application. Non-US countries offer fewer rights to individual inventors (vs. the company) so it may not matter much.

Assuming the patent is accurate and based on work you did for the company, I’d think that you’re ethically obligated to sign. It seems like the right time to register objections to the patent system was when you were considering whether or not to accept the position.

Why would I be ethically obligated to sign for it? I was obliged to sign things when I was an employee, but I haven't been for years.

Also, do you mean to imply if you have ever taken a paid position in the industry (as essentially every company will have you sign away your patents), then your opinion on software patents can never matter again?

In the US, employment or separation agreements usually include language that requires former employees to cooperate in patent matters after they leave the company. (Of course, limited to your inventions made while you were an employee.) Typically, this includes signing formal documents.

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