legal, non-disclosure-agreement, silicon-valleyI had a pretty radical idea some months ago and while implementing it I chatted with a payment processor. In the email correspondence they wanted a lot of details so I had to eventually tell them the idea but first asking assurance that it will remain confidential in a very clear way and I was assured “100%” that it will not be disseminated.
After 4 months a company that is owned by a big stakeholder of the first company launched exactly my idea. Can I do something about it given that I have the emails in my possession especially if they become very successful? Apparently an exact relationship cannot be proved though it could be a very rare coincidence.
Any US lawyers here?
In my own personal interest I have done some research in the recent past. You would need to be able to prove some type of authorship directly corelated to the concept.
The idea alone is not enough for anyone to take a case. The e-mails are fine but you can’t legally claim ownership of a thought or concept which was shared even in confidence. You can however claim intellectual property rights. If I were you I would start researching that before you go to a lawyer. If you have no evidence of any extensive work which puts a strong context to your claim you may be out of luck.
Uber and Lift do the same thing with some small differences, but Taxis and other forms of carpooling have been around for years. It’s not a battle of who thought to drive people around for money, but rather, who can make the most from the concept.
You may have a case you may not. It’s not if you have a case that should matter. The real question is can you find someone who will:
Hope this information helps you find justice. You need know you have hard evidence and do the grunt work. Then take it to a lawyer and they will draw up documents that are sent to other lawyers. If all goes well you’ll never see a day in court. That’s the optimistic yet reasonable answer I think you might be looking for. Lawyers aren’t detectives. In my experience, Either do your research and take them a solid well constructed case or don’t bother trying to find a lawyer.
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