Actually it is just a matter of he never asked. If I were to leave on good terms I would release the algorithm to him, but having been cheated in the past I tend to protect myself. Lets say you were hired to develop something with the understanding that 1. You would receive hourly wages for R&D, and 2. If the product took off, you would get a commission on all future sales. This is in our agreement. Now suppose your boss gets greedy and decides he does not want to pay you your share of the commissions from sales, so you are out the door. Then one day he needs an update but your replacement cant find your algorithm, so you are called back in, negotiate an even better sounding deal, what guarantee do you have that the same will not happen after he has the algorithm? KF4HAZ - Lonnie ----- From: "Philip Stortz" > that frankly strikes me as unethical, in the extreme. you've been hired > and paid to do specific work and designs. the entity employing has the > right to full documentation of the product you produce for them. if you > are working as an independent contractor it may be somewhat reasonable, > if those who contract you understand that they are not going to receive > full documentation, otherwise you are frankly ripping them off and it is > highly unethical. if you produce work for someone, that work is theirs > unless you've negotiated some other agreement or are acting as a > contractor rather than a traditional employee, and i believe the courts > would generally agree with me. > > i certainly believe that most would agree with on the ethics of this > situation. by keeping part of the work paid for secret and demanding > job security for it you are in fact stealing by leveraging what you've > already been paid for but have failed to deliver against future > employment, i find this despicable in the extreme. > > where i have worked i've always provided full documentation, and even > after leaving i've consulted (for pay of course) to help the company > understand how things worked when there wasn't documentation on some > small points or the documentation had been lost/stolen (in this case it > was a spin off company, and a dishonest employee had stolen many of the > computer files relating to his work and the work of others, along with > the ceo's machining tools...). > > i do not work for free, and if you contract me i will charge fees for > everything and may chose to only license certain tricks to you, however > if you hire me as an employee, you own my work (along with the liability > for it) and i will fully disclose unless a prior arrangement has been > made. this is the implied contract, to do otherwise is dishonest and > frankly criminal. if you believe you are being under compensated for > your' work you do not have the right to steal some of your' own work, > you should renegotiate or find other employment, not unilaterally decide > not to disclose all of the product you have generated as an employee. > and i expect no less from those employing me, there is an implied > contract as well as any specific contract when one is employed and if > you can't honor that you need to honestly renegotiate rather than > pulling dishonest tricks to extort the employer. > > Falcon Wireless Tech Support - KF4HAZ wrote: > > > > I am sure the boss would agree with you, > > but he didn't design the bootloader, nor the products. > > I am the only one here who knows the algorithm (job security) > > He did not cover this in the NDA and I aint gonna tell him. > > > > KF4HAZ - Lonnie > > > > ----- From: "Wouter van Ooijen" > > If you don't grok this at the abstract level think this way: the method > > > must be safe even when one (or even all) of the designers leaves the > > > company and starts working for the opposition. > ---------- > > -- > "it is possible to fool all the people all the time-when government and press > cooperate."-George Seldes, 1938 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > _______________________________________________ http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist