What to do when a Company Doesn’t Hire you but Steals your Ideas
During the hiring process, you may be asked to submit some ideas, or offer some glimpses as to what you would offer if hired. This is a normal thing for a company to ask for because they need to see what you are thinking and what you would do if hired. However, the company might decide that you are not good enough to be working for the company even with your great ideas. However, what do you do if you think the company is using your ideas?
The first thing that has to be proven is that you came up with the idea in the first place. Unless you can document your ideas and prove that you came up with them, it might be hard to prove it in court. It might be even harder if it is a general improvement to an existing idea, or is an idea that is also being developed by others.
If you feel like you have a claim, you can file a cease and desist letter with the company. This will advise the company that an idea has been stolen from you. If the company is nice enough, they might stop using your idea as the lawsuit might not be worth risking. However, the company probably feels it is on good legal standing, so they might continue using your idea.
What happens then? You can sue the company for any trademark or patent infringements if you have either on your product. You can sue for royalties and other damages. You could also offer to compromise with the company or even sell your idea to the company and develop a working relationship with the company.
Again, the biggest thing is that you document the ideas as yours. Write down everything that pertains to your idea. If the idea is big enough to sue over, it probably took some time to get the idea out of your head and onto paper. If not, it probably wasn't something that took much time to come up with, or was mind blowing. Yes, it is the principle that matters, but is fighting your claim worth the time if it is a minor idea?
A company that steals your ideas isn't worth your time in the first place. Who would want to work for a boss that would take your ideas? If a business won't stop using your idea and a judge won't force them to stop, you should tell everyone you know about your experience and make the business suffer image wise. It might be the only recourse you have when all is said and done.
