Ask HN: How to decide ownership of an idea that you bring to your company | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How to decide ownership of an idea that you bring to your company

2 pointsmad_tortoise4 comments

The company I work for is open to employee's bringing idea's to the company and if it's good the companies resources can be used to bring the idea to fruition, however there isn't a set structure for doing so as it is a new process. As such I have a reluctance to bring idea's forward as I obviously would want proof that I would have some compensation should it become profitable. Have any of you got experience in figuring this out, or work for companies that have policies in place for both the employee and the company to benefit? I would like to bring a structure to the company that we can all agree on, and would also allow other employees to feel comfortable sharing their ideas.

Ideas to improve existing products or even new ideas for complimentary products should be seen as part of your job. While many companies are not open to tech employees bringing new product ideas to the table, many are.

This sort of question only ever seems to come from technical employees, who tend not to interact with customers much. Sales guys -- the good ones at least -- come up with new ideas all the time, and see that as part of their job. You should too.

If you want part of the profits from your ideas, then you need to start your own business and develop those ideas yourself, outside the security of a 9-5 pay check.

File a provisional patent application, that gives you a framework to manage ownership of ip (e.g. you are the 'inventor' and your firm the 'assignee'.)

Typically they make you sign some legal document stating that anything developed/built on company time and resources is owned by the company.

I've seen plenty of hawks that just circle and take credit for other people's ideas and hard work. They sprinkle their bullshit on top and then claim credit for it.

I've recently encountered employment/hiring contracts declaring that all of the employee/contractor's ideas belong to the company. It might be worthwhile to review your employment contract and do a quick consultation with your attorney.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com