I apologize for continuing to vent about my current obsession, I'm nearly faint with rage and have to express it in some kind of constructive way or I might do something stupid.
In the ongoing saga of Company X. I had a couple of conversations with people today that really encouraged me to look into moving forward with some sort of action. As I said earlier, I'm not sure what steps to take, so I need to find someone in the know.
This evening, I finally went to the company's website to see how they have positioned my product.
Turns out they are not positioning the product as part of their business model. They have changed their ENTIRE business model to focus on ONLY my product. They don't even do what they were doing before I met them anymore.
The 'technology that they created' is my model with a service marked name and...as far as I can see, one minor change.
While the aneurysm I'm having right now has prevented me from doing a close comparison yet, I believe that some of the language in their product description is word for word mine. Or maybe a few different spellings.
I can't believe it. I'm so far beyond gobsmacked, I can't even decide what to do next. Take a bath? Get drunk? Scream in the streets?
Seriously. I don't know what to do.
eta: My self-righteous indignation compels me to add that this is a company that does upwards of 50 million dollars per year in revenues. I have trouble paying my rent. I just want to die.
Holy shit, bonny. Lawyer 'em in the ass!
bonny, did you not sign anything that essentially said that whatever work you do at the Company becomes property of the Company and you can't take it with you to another organization? I think I've signed something like that. I don't know if this situation would be under that sort of thing.
what P-C is describing is a "work for hire" agreement, where you assign all rights to your products to the company. However, as you describe the situation, you never actually worked for them, you talked with them about a working situation, and showed them some ideas, and could not come to an agreement.
No P-C. I wasn't working for the company. I was an organization development consultant at the time and put this product together as a way to combine all my interests into a service that would make companies work better.
In fact, the 'motto' of the product they are peddling is a direct quote from me. The language, however, is pretty generic, so...hard to claim it as my personal genius. The other stuff though? Yeah, identifiable.
eta: Right Vortex. The two principles loved the idea and praised me highly for it. After a number of discussions, they suddenly stopped taking my calls.
cripes bonny! that is evil beyond belief. Not to mention, perhaps, that this is now YOUR company - seeing as it is your idea. I don't want to fan the fire, because aneurysms are not what I like happening to my friends - so if this is going to cause you too much pain, then step back, by all means, and let the professionals handle it. And by that I mean:
Holy shit, bonny. Lawyer 'em in the ass!
moreover, it sounds like the list of documentation you gave is quite a pile - and I'm guessing you didn't sign any non-disclosures, or if you had, they didn't pay you so there's no conclusion of contract (totally making up stuff here now).
bonny, get a good lawyer.
I dropped off the application today and the real estate person said we would hear either tomorrow or Monday. So now it's wait wait wait and avoid any possible calls from the current landlord.
Definitely sue, Bonny. Also, word from the burned--be careful what you post here about all of it. We are still a public forum, and I know that gets tricky with legal situations. (NOT telling you not to talk about it, just to be clear. Vent away. Just continue to be verrrrrrry vague.)
ETA: YAY sj!
