Stupid Guest Tricks

Big Wallaby wrote:I understood it when I first signed up, any good idea they come up with is theirs, and any idea I come up with while employed is theirs. I signed that paper. It's a bit frightening to think what more there could be.

Standard practice with most companies although an idea might be hard to grab if the idea has nothing to do with the company product line.

I do have a question about that. I like to write and am working on my first novel. I would love to go back to Disney, but would I be able to work for them and be an author? My novels have absolutely nothing to do with Disney and the ideas are pre-existing. I've always been curious how that works. And as I want to go back to the company, could somebody please PM me what the new communication is about?

Officially, the rule is that if you come up with the idea while on the clock, then it's theirs. If you come up with it on your own time, it's yours.

That said, I trust no one. From the moment I signed that paper, a week before my wife did, I, for one of the VERY few times in our marriage put my foot down and forbade her from discussing an idea she has had for years with anyone but me. It's something that she came up with at about 5 years old, something that if any entertainment company got wind of it, they would love to take it out from under her, even if it was to patent the idea so she couldn't do anything with it. She had gone and put more thought into it than James Cameron into Avatar (and yes, I know what a big claim that is, but you can't ask her a question she hasn't already thought out, and the drawings from before she started are incredible) over the years, with complete plans. She would eventually like to make money with it, but to protect the idea and ourselves, she will not discuss it or even write anything on a permanent media until she's been separated from the company for at least a year.

And that was something we came up when I still chose to wear the rose-colored glasses.

Even then you may not be protected. Have you either copyrighted or applied for a patent? If it's that good spend the money to protect it.

Don't think you need that level of protection? Look up Ford Motor Company and variable speed windshield wipers, and Sears and push button release socket wrenches. Little inventors got screwed for years in both cases.

Hopefully there's some paper trial, showing the evolution of the idea, and which dates the idea before her current employment. That would be much stronger proof than anything she could do now.

BRWombat wrote:Hopefully there's some paper trial, showing the evolution of the idea, and which dates the idea before her current employment. That would be much stronger proof than anything she could do now.

Poor man's copyright: idea placed in a sealed envelope with a postmark stamp.

Learned that one at one of my conventions talking about writing I believe.

Lasolimu wrote:Poor man's copyright: idea placed in a sealed envelope with a postmark stamp.

Learned that one at one of my conventions talking about writing I believe.

That one is an urban legend. It may work in parts of Great Britain, but not here in the United States. It affords you absolutely NO legal protections. See Snopes for more details.

EeyoresButterfly wrote:That one is an urban legend. It may work in parts of Great Britain, but not here in the United States. It affords you absolutely NO legal protections. See Snopes for more details.

It may hold no legal protections(this just says it isn't mentioned in laws, not that it can't work), and they can say it might not hold up in court which is all true, but I bet it actually would work.

You have a sealed envelope that shows no signs of tempering(I don't care how you open it or how careful you are when opening it, there will be signs) with an official post office date stamp on it. This would clearly show that you had the idea at that time and unless the other party can show definitive evidence that they had it earlier I believe it would probably hold up in court. At the very least those fighting this would have to go through extra lengths to demonstrate how it could be tampered with without leaving signs.

Snopes can't verify if it works or not because it hasn't been tested, they say they haven't found a case where it was defended like this, but they also don't say that have court cases where it was used and lost.

Does it work, can't say right now, it's never been tested(I'm guessing that some courts have seen it, but they ended up settling out of court) all the way through. For the moment, however, if you can't afford the real copyright, it's better than having nothing.

If you read hte article, the US Copyright Department specifically addresses this issue and says it has zero legal standing in terms of copyright. Might it work if all you need is to establish a timeline? Possibly. But it does not in any way give you the same legal protection an actual copyright would

EeyoresButterfly wrote:If you read hte article, the US Copyright Department specifically addresses this issue and says it has zero legal standing in terms of copyright. Might it work if all you need is to establish a timeline? Possibly. But it does not in any way give you the same legal protection an actual copyright would

Exactly, and most copyright disputes arise over who had the idea first, therefore, if you have done this and all the other party has is "we thought of it on this date" you will win because you have evidence to prove your date. This is the reason I don't think it's ever been fully run through the courts(and therefore why there are no court records of it working), one party has done this and another wants it, but has no proof so they drop it or settle out of court.

As I said before, will it work? No one can definitively say right now, but it's better than nothing if you can't afford a full copyright.