that's somewhat reasonable, and i might do the same to that extent. i have been ripped off by employers before. the fact that you are to receive commission means you have maintained some ownership interest in the design, so there's no problem with keeping some of it secret unless asked or unless you left under good terms. if you were hired for straight salary that would be a different situation. =20 at the same time i think it's appalling that in the u.s. companies can claim full ownership of any patent an employee comes up with. in all other countries only individuals can own patent rights when they invent something, the company may be entitled (because of an employment contract) to free use etc., but they don't get to own it completely.=20 and this is abused, i decided not to be a "meter reader" for our power company because their employment contract says that they'd own any patent i ever came up with for the rest of my life, even if i wasn't working for them and it had nothing to do with their business! that's an awfully high price to pay for a low paying non-technical job! it sounds like you are fortunate enough to have a reasonable employer, as opposed the the more common greedy bastard variety that doesn't think employees deserve what little they're already getting (and there are plenty of those, even in high tech fields with no respect for engineers e= tc.). Falcon Wireless Tech Support - KF4HAZ wrote: >=20 > 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 tha= t > 1. You would receive hourly wages for R&D, and > 2. If the product took off, you would get a commission on all future sa= les. > 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 alg= orithm, > 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 alg= orithm? ----------- --=20 =93it is possible to fool all the people all the time=97when government a= nd press cooperate.=94-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