- April 15, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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# Seeking Advice on Renouncing Rights to Code After Startup Sale
Hi Reddit community,
As a software engineer with experience working at a startup in France, I am currently facing a situation where the company is being sold, and I have been asked to sign a document renouncing my rights to the code I contributed to during my employment.
I find myself in a dilemma as I am unsure about the implications of signing such a document. Is it within my rights to ask for compensation in the form of a percentage of the sale, considering the value of the code I have developed for the company?
I would greatly appreciate hearing from individuals who have encountered similar circumstances or possess knowledge in this area. Your insights and guidance would be invaluable to me during this decision-making process.
Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.
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Who owns the code? If you wrote the code as an employee of the company, for the company, then you don’t own jack shit. Sorry. 😀
You need to find out if you own it at all and if you do what you have agreed to /signed before.
At least in the Netherlands if you are an employee whatever you produce at work belongs to the company and does not need your signature as you do not own it (could be the buyer is doing a better safe then sorry action which buyers are known to do).
For external contractors (self employed developers) we had a clause in their contract that basically stated that they would renounce ownership of anything they created in scope of the contract free of (additional) charge at our first request.
Not a lawyer but I think the legal rational was that you cannot renounce upfront for something that does not exist yet, but is just my assumption.
There can also be a clause somewhere that states that the company has an everlasting free license to use the code you wrote free of charge. In that case it still is your code but there is very little to bargain about.
If it turns out you do own all rights to the code your bargaining position is determined by how essential ownership of that code is for the valuation and your moral and ethical considerations.
Did you get paid for the work you done there?
Do you have any rights to the code to begin with?
Didn’t you write it for the company, and got compensated for it?
not been in a similar situation but: They want you to sign something which benefits them. What’s in it for You?
Since they want you to sign this, i would suggest you look in to your contract regarding intellectual propert. maybe there’s some clause which implies the intellectual property goes to you in if the company no longer exists or something.
Don’t sign anything for free.
Your question includes a reference to France, which has its own legal advice subreddit. You may wish to consider posting your question to /r/ConseilJuridique as well, though this may not be required.
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Before signing anything (ever) you have to ask yourself: what am I signing and what am I getting in return?
Unless it is a signature for receipt, you generally are signing something away in return for something else.
What are they offering you? If not then why would you sign anything? Let them make you an offer.
Yes, this is part of the due diligence that the other side/buyer wants. You have leverage to get paid out. Get a lawyer versed in M&A to negotiate for you.