Re:Alphabet adds patent claim to Uber intellectual property ...
by ghaff on Saturday March 11, 2017 @09:10AM
(#13845441)
As others have said, this case seems to go way beyond "best practices."
However, in the more general case, it probably depends in part on what sort of agreements you've signed. It's also one of the reasons why non-competes do exist and are enforced in many places. As you suggest, if you're a project lead for $FOO technology at Company A and you jump to Company B which wants to get in the $FOO business, the reality is that you're being hired only because you're familiar with what Company A is doing and has learned about $FOO.
You may not hold a meeting and do a brain dump of everything you know about what you learned while at Company A (which might well violate employment contracts and would generally be unethical) but you'll absolutely be transferring knowledge. Of course, this happens all the time at some level when people move between companies.
However, in the more general case, it probably depends in part on what sort of agreements you've signed. It's also one of the reasons why non-competes do exist and are enforced in many places. As you suggest, if you're a project lead for $FOO technology at Company A and you jump to Company B which wants to get in the $FOO business, the reality is that you're being hired only because you're familiar with what Company A is doing and has learned about $FOO.
You may not hold a meeting and do a brain dump of everything you know about what you learned while at Company A (which might well violate employment contracts and would generally be unethical) but you'll absolutely be transferring knowledge. Of course, this happens all the time at some level when people move between companies.