Securing Compensation for Significant Contributions

Question

If you were working at a FAANG company and came up with a new feature that may significantly benefit it, possibly solving a big problem plaguing generative AI, how would you ensure credit/compensation before sharing it?

- the idea falls way outside the scope of your job description

- you're a low level engineer

- you believe patents can be easily skirted since there's many ways of implementing this solution, but only a handful of companies have the infrastructure required to successfully implement it (and yours probably has the best chances)

CX999 · Accepted Answer

I'd review your employment contracts, a lot of those companies tend to have a clause or agreement that basically says anything you create for the company will be owned by the company, so make sure you understand that part of it completely.

Then also make sure you have all the documentation proving it's your idea and that you came up with it, and then maybe seeing if the company will offer some sort of signed contract/payment clause for the idea. Then you could draft up a proof-of-concept, present it, and see if they'll buy it

eightysixer · Answer

"you believe patents can be easily skirted--"

Bzzzzt. Stop right there, that's a red flag. That's why your company pays a legal department.

If it's novel enough that you feel the need to proactively defend against a patent infringement suit, 1) it's probably a patentable idea, 2) it's time to involve legal. Your company should have an "invention disclosure" process. Use it.

You may find out, actually, legal is pretty sure you're infringing on a patent and the idea is not worth the time/money. If not, you'll get a patent award, which is a damn fine thing to put on your resume if your company doesn't yeet money and promotions at you.

Your alternative (and I stress this isn't legal advice, talk to a labor and/or patent lawyer about the terms of your employment contract) is to leave the company and try to implement/patent the idea yourself. But then you take on all the risk: both execution risk if the idea is resource intensive, but also patent infringement risk.

Lastly note that patents cover ideas, not necessarily implementation. So just because there are multiple ways of implementing an idea does not mean you can skirt around the patent. (Seriously this stuff is not straightforward, talk to a lawyer.)

flipperjack · Answer

Leave, start own company.  Document that you never used any company resource for generating said idea

Securing Compensation for Significant Contributions

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