letter of demand or let it go - aged care software

Question

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the place to ask for advice, but here goes.

About 2.5 years ago I wrote an application for an aged care group in collaboration with the clinical director of an aged care residence. He told me that the board of directors have no interest in the software I wrote, and that we could go into a partnership to sell it to other aged care places. I though this was a good idea - I had the technical ability and he had the right contacts in the aged care industry. There was something in an email from him to this effect which I still have as evidence. It is worth noting that I own the copyright to the software.

About 18 months after it was in use, it won one an award which was presented by the Minister for Ageing and it got some media coverage. It was shortly after this that the board changed their minds and decided that they were interested in the software. They have also decided to redevelop the software with another company.

Anyway, the end result has been they wanted me to sign a contract to assign all IP over to them. However, the contract implies that further development will use the IP I developed, and I understand I could use this as evidence.

My thoughts are to send a letter requesting a settlement amount with the evidence attached - if they pay they in return will own the software and the reputation of winning the award and there will be no conflicts in the future.

Any thoughts or experience would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

This is most, most definitely a question only a lawyer can answer, and really Off-Topic on Stack Overflow.

From a common sense perspective, from what you tell, it sounds like a money settlement is definitely in order if you weren't paid back then, but nobody here will be able to say for sure how much chance you have of getting it, how much it should be etc. etc.

Invest the money and talk to a lawyer.

Apart from that, two general pieces of advice:

• Try to collect as many records and notes from the time you developed the software so you can estimate how much time you put in developing it. If there is a settlement, it will be one thing the amount will depend on.

• Even if you don't get a lawyer, be careful when you write to them. Don't attach the "evidence" E-Mail in your first letter if it's not totally necessary: That would look like a declaration of war, the message being "if you don't play nice, I'm going to sue you". Just mention that the agreement with Person XYZ was this and that. You'll have ample time to supply evidence when things get nasty.