| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: New business owner threatening to sue me over IP |
Topic: New business owner threatening to sue me over IP
| Author | Message |
| cheryl616 | Posted – 9/5/2008 10:47:05 PM | show profile | email poster Hi, I was employed for several years for a small independent print firm. The business was recently sold without notice to the employees, and the old owner laid me off because the new owner did not want to pay my wage. Due to the fact I was always expected to provide my own computer equipment, any of the archived artwork was stored on my computer. On my last day I turned over a DVD containing the archived files from recent works. Now I'm hearing second-hand that the new owner is intending to sue me for theft of intellectual property. I've never met the new owner, never worked for the new owner, and I don't know if she understands we never had a written policy concerning retaining old electronic files. There wasn't even a policy for the intellectual property rights. I assume the new owner was anticipating a much larger archive, but since I only retained files for 6 months, the DVD I provided is literally as good as it gets. Has anyone ever experienced a similar situation? I was torn up about losing my job without notice, but I don't know how I should handle it if this person does contact me. I didn't make much at this job in the first place, so I don't know what the new owner is expecting to bleed from me in a lawsuit. |
| Grateful Deadline | Posted – 9/6/2008 4:15:14 PM | show profile Were you an independent contractor at the time you did the work? |
| df | Posted – 9/7/2008 2:09:49 PM | show profile be very careful in your initial response. do not write or admit to anything until you know more, be very thank you for your call, please write me with your requests so I can see what i can do for you. see if you might have an independent/union free legal advise option in your area. Since you were an independent contractor, you actually might be liable for the archive, depending what your contract says and in which state you live. on a good note, if you are a sole proprietor, you can insist on arbitration and the laws are friendly towards the small biz owner in those decisions. but again, get everything in writing, do not admit to anything, get legal advise if the new owner contacts you. |
| Cyrus | Posted – 9/7/2008 9:50:51 PM | show profile | email poster Cheryl, To put it quite simply, you need to talk to an attorney who specializes in contract-related litigation and issues. Bottom line is litigation gets VERY EXPENSIVE VERY QUICKLY, so you want to be prepared BEFORE it comes to that. If you need a referral to a great independent contract attorney, contact me off line. He came out of Fried Frank, so he knows what he's doing and charges reasonable rates. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| cblodgett | Posted – 9/7/2008 10:52:54 PM | show profile Too Easy You supplied your own computer? Two words - Computer broke. Who's going to call you on it? And if they contact you, you don't have to answer anything from them. |
| epenthesis | Posted – 9/8/2008 11:44:24 AM | show profile My hunch is that the new owner lacks a leg to stand on unless you were explicitly notified that you were expected to archive everything. And given that you weren't even provided equipment, that would seem an unreasonable request. But of course, it's not unreasonable for a buyer to have expected an extensive archive; your old employer really seems to have screwed over everyone involved. I say all of this only to calm your nerves; you need to get a lawyer in place and route all future communications through this person until the situation is resolved. It's too easy to make a costly mistake in this situation. |
| mkelly | Posted – 9/8/2008 5:29:24 PM | show profile I can only repeat what other people have said here-- do not, under any circumstance, talk to this new owner by phone or in person. Until you have a lawyer give you advice, all your communication with this person should only be by email or written letter (letter being preferred). Then get a lawyer. Experience tells me that if this new owner was as ham-handed as you say in acquiring the company, he probably is just blustering and won't really sue you. Be wary, but don't worry. Most of the time these cases never materialize. When they do, they can be expensive even if you win, so also take precautions to protect yourself-- namely, shut up whenever he's around. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 9/9/2008 11:38:25 AM | show profile What rubbish on the new owner's part. You said you were laid off. That tells me you were an employee, not an independent contractor, correct? And you had to use your own computer to work? That right there is none of his business. You gave them all the information that was stored on your private property. That is all they are entitled to. At most, maybe he can make you sign something stating that you will not sell the information that was on your computer or use it for monetary gain. As a good faith measure, I would have wiped the drive and rebuilt it from operating system on up the moment they opened the DVD and confirmed that the information was readable. I don't think that would do you any good now, and maybe there is still a way to retain information on a drive even after it has been wiped, but just tossing that thought out there. My suggestion for everyone is that unless you are an independent contractor, demand that your company provide one of THEIR computers to work on. Any company that's too cheap to do that and makes you work on your own, private equipment, is a sinking ship. I mean, really, a computer is a basic company-supplied tool for an employee to have--for the company's own safety. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 9/9/2008 1:40:33 PM | show profile You've gotten some decent advice and some suspect advice on this board (I wouldn't lie and say the computer broke, for instance). First, I wouldn't do anything until the new owner contacted you. Second, if he did contact me, I wouldn't speak to him. My guess is you will be fine, but I would spend a little bit of money to consult with an attorney to make sure rather than rely on off-the-cuff legal advice on this board. |
| cblodgett | Posted – 9/9/2008 11:49:30 PM | show profile What's so bad with my advice? Honestly, everyone is saying go consult an attorney. Do you know how much an attorney costs? If the company wanted to keep their property in the first place they would have done 1 of 2 things, invested in their own equipment or purchased the equipment from cheryl. If they were too cheap in the first place to do either one of these things they have no say in the maintenance of the machine. Save the argument and tell them it is unavailable, save the attorney fee and save your time. If they want it bad enough they will get a court order for the hard drive (which will take forever and cost a fortune), but you don't owe them anything. The ball is in their court and take this from a guy who has been screwed over by the best. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 9/10/2008 12:00:22 AM | show profile I think it's bad advice to suggest someone lie in this situation. I could imagine a lot of ways a lie could trip you up later. More preferable, to me, is to simply say nothing. What everyone is saying is, if the business owner takes legal action against the original poster, he should consult with an attorney. If I were sued or was on the verge of being sued, I think it's preferable to spend a small amount of money speaking with an attorney for an hour to find out what the real ramifications are than to take wild guesses ("My computer broke -- so I am in the clear!") without having an idea of what the legal consequents might be. I certainly would rely on the counsel of non-lawyers on a Internet board who are just guessing. --What's so bad with my advice? Honestly, everyone is saying go consult an attorney. Do you know how much an attorney costs?-- |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 9/10/2008 12:05:07 AM | show profile Wrote that quickly. I meant I wouldn't rely on off-the-cuff advice on this board. |
| WordyBird | Posted – 9/10/2008 11:31:37 AM | show profile I see the value in knowing a good attorney. I just wouldn't contact one until the new owner actually made contact. This could all be bluster on the part of an egotistical blowhard who wants to thump his chest and establish authority. But I'm guessing a lawyer would tell the OP something similar to what I said, about making the OP sign something saying he or she won't use the material for financial gain or otherwise disclose it. The whole situation is just so amateurish. The fact that the word is spreading second-hand is even suspect. Who, other than a paranoid freak, would make those kind of threats over something like that? It's not like the OP has matters of national security on the computer. It's artwork. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 9/10/2008 11:43:24 AM | show profile It's very amateurish. Who would buy a design company without first vetting its assets? --But I'm guessing a lawyer would tell the OP something similar to what I said, about making the OP sign something saying he or she won't use the material for financial gain or otherwise disclose it. The whole situation is just so amateurish. The fact that the word is spreading second-hand is even suspect. Who, other than a paranoid freak, would make those kind of threats over something like that? It's not like the OP has matters of national security on the computer. It's artwork.-- |
| Cyrus | Posted – 9/10/2008 12:36:01 PM | show profile Just a brief note here; the people who are making an issue of the fact that you provided your own computer are making a point, but it's only one of several litmus tests that are used in actual litigation to determine whether a person meets the legal standard of an employee or is an independent contractor. Decisions like that are actually done when cases like this go to court because often companies want to try to make someone a contractor for various reasons, when in actuality they don't meet that legal definition. Thus, when situations like this occur, often courts rule that employers are actually bound to pay costs associated with an employee (like FICA, unemployment insurance, etc). Since legal PR is one of my bread-and-butter practices, I know how much attorneys cost. But once things get messy, having a qualified one do a few things on your behalf to actually head off litigation is a heck of a lot cheaper than it is when that ball gets rolling. Not to mention most attorneys will give you at least some advice in an initial consultation that won't involve a fee. Regards, Cyrus ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| eriksherman | Posted – 9/10/2008 9:10:30 PM | show profile | email poster >> on a good note, if you are a sole proprietor, you can insist on arbitration and the laws are friendly towards the small biz owner in those decisions. << Not true at all from the statistics I've seen. Regarding the issue, I'd agree that waiting until the new owners actually contact you is prudent. You have no idea how accurate the second-hand report is. If something happens, do check a lawyer - a labor lawyer. If you were an employee, then it might be a different set of laws involved. If you've given them a copy of everything, then they don't have anything that you don't. To be tidy, I might even erase all that from my hard drive because it is their material (but not before I spoke to a lawyer). An initial consult might even be free. ------ Free writer resources: http://www.eriksherman.com/WriterBiz |
