Anyone Know Law

[chrisleonard 10]

Hi

 

I have been a partner in a trading business for a while after i wrote some indicators...

 

Me and my partner had a 50/50 profit share on the sales and all was well

 

Then he got greedy and is trying to take the indicators from me and saying the invoices were for development not sale, even thought its been nearly 2 years of constant sales.

 

I have the open ELD's and all the beta's I made. He is now thretending with p;loice and to sue me for the code i wrote.

 

There are no contracts or anything, i have skype history of him saying we are 50/50 etc etc.

 

I cant believe he is trying to claim rights to the code.

 

Anyone been in this boat before or know where i stand and what to do.

Thanks

 

Chris

[Tams 20]

Hi

 

I have been a partner in a trading business for a while after i wrote some indicators...

 

Me and my partner had a 50/50 profit share on the sales and all was well

 

Then he got greedy and is trying to take the indicators from me and saying the invoices were for development not sale, even thought its been nearly 2 years of constant sales.

 

I have the open ELD's and all the beta's I made. He is now thretending with p;loice and to sue me for the code i wrote.

 

There are no contracts or anything, i have skype history of him saying we are 50/50 etc etc.

 

I cant believe he is trying to claim rights to the code.

 

Anyone been in this boat before or know where i stand and what to do.

Thanks

 

Chris

 

did he contribute to the logic of the code?

if he did, he is the part owner of the code the same way you are the part owner of his logic.

[Tams 20]

did he contribute to the business venture?

eg. sales & marketing efforts?

if he did, then he owns part of the code the same way you own part of the brand, sales, and marketing.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Tams

[ScottB 10]

Chris, are you saying that your partner is saying the money he sent you was payment for your services as a developer and therefore he owns the code vs. royalties vs. a split of the sales?

 

The answer to that question is important so before I answer further, I want to be sure I know the facts.

 

For the record, in the US threatening to file a criminal complaint in the pursuit of a civil matter is against the law and could land him in big trouble.

[chrisleonard 10]

Hi

 

Ill explain the story, I came to a trader and he said u need these indicators to trade. I could not afford them so i went home with a friend and coded what i though he used. Inmstead they were better and he asked to sell them with me and we split 50/50.

 

This worked well and made some money.

 

In the meantime we did code an indicator together he said how he trades and i wrote the code givin stops etc etc.

 

He has then recently started blackmailing me to do other work.

 

"if you want paying for your indicator sales then you need to fix my website" etc etc.

 

In the end i had enough when he started sayin we now are going to take money out of your sales for expences of company. I said no thanks and he then went mental and asked for all the code. I said no and he is now threatening with law.

 

I think he may have some rights to the indicator we made together but if i give him the code i have nio way to know how many he sells and i know he will scam money some how.

 

Thanks

[ScottB 10]

chris, I am not an attorney but I was in the commercial software business for 25 years prior to becoming a trade system developer

 

A) the law (as in police) couldn't care less about a spat between two guys

 

B) if they did care, this is a civl matter and they don't have any jurisdiction

 

C) if there isn't a patent or non-disclosure agreement, etc he is out of luck, he has no case, nothing and not much of one unless there is a patent. Ideas while important don't count in a case like this, a patent would but you can get ideas anywhere, actually putting in the effort to get them into code usually tips the scales (as I said though, I am not an attorney)

 

D) if you give him the code, even the code you developed with him, there is a description for that but not one I will use in an open forum but the last word in the phrase is idiot and I bet you can guess the first one

 

This guy has alread proven to be untrustworthy, find someone else to do business with but never, ever give up your code.

 

Scott

[chrisleonard 10]

scott i really appriciate your post.

 

You have taken time to write this and its what i thought the answer was.

 

Thanks

 

Chris

[ScottB 10]

Chris, you are quite welcome. I hate to see someone get taken advantage of (especially a fellow programmer).

[Tams 20]

Hi

 

Ill explain the story, I came to a trader and he said u need these indicators to trade. I could not afford them so i went home with a friend and coded what i though he used. Inmstead they were better and he asked to sell them with me and we split 50/50.

 

This worked well and made some money.

 

In the meantime we did code an indicator together he said how he trades and i wrote the code givin stops etc etc.

 

He has then recently started blackmailing me to do other work.

 

"if you want paying for your indicator sales then you need to fix my website" etc etc.

 

In the end i had enough when he started sayin we now are going to take money out of your sales for expences of company. I said no thanks and he then went mental and asked for all the code. I said no and he is now threatening with law.

 

I think he may have some rights to the indicator we made together but if i give him the code i have nio way to know how many he sells and i know he will scam money some how.

 

Thanks

 

as in any business,

if you split the sales,

you should also split the expenses that generate the sales.

 

if the website is for generating the sales,

then yes, you are responsible for part of the expenses.

[chrisleonard 10]

Tam

 

I started the indicator sales as a venture..

 

He then crerated a company selling mentorship and started selling to these people..

 

I didnt ask him too and he waqs making alot more money on the mentorship than the indicators..

 

We were happy before and he got greedy, i didnt ask him to start a company he did it.

 

The indicators were mine since day one, he got half for each sale.

 

The other indicator was the same and i paid for a seperatwe site to sell that one and designed it myself.

 

Thanks

 

Chris

[Tams 20]

Tam

 

I started the indicator sales as a venture..

 

He then crerated a company selling mentorship and started selling to these people..

 

I didnt ask him too and he waqs making alot more money on the mentorship than the indicators..

 

We were happy before and he got greedy, i didnt ask him to start a company he did it.

 

The indicators were mine since day one, he got half for each sale.

 

The other indicator was the same and i paid for a seperatwe site to sell that one and designed it myself.

 

Thanks

 

Chris

 

you should sue him for half of the membership sales, LOL

[Ingot54 13]

as in any business,

if you split the sales,

you should also split the expenses that generate the sales.

 

If the website is for generating the sales,

then yes, you are responsible for part of the expenses.

 

Tams - ordinarily this might be the case.

 

But in this instance it is clearly a case of manipulation emerging, which killed any 'business'

that may have been budding.

 

It might also be tested that no business exists where there was no formalisation of such.

A view could be taken that it was just a profitable hobby, even though the process might

have been en train to actually formalise a business.

 

I would have to agree with ScottB on this - run the other way, and keep the intellectual

property. The 'friend' has shown himself to be an opportunistic parasite, and I think he is in

the throes of realising he has mightily soiled his trousers!

[chrisleonard 10]

lol - nice one tam, i think ill just start again on my own...

 

Maybe ill release all the code open source accross the net and build another one.

 

I appriciate all of your responces.

[Tams 20]

lol - nice one tam, i think ill just start again on my own...

 

Maybe ill release all the code open source accross the net and build another one.

 

I appriciate all of your responces.

 

I am not kidding...

 

if the indicator is the basis of the membership, then you have a case against him, because he is the one who promised 50/50.

 

I would talk to a lawyer for advice. Good luck.