copyright intellectual-property patents open-source-software
Does a company own my company&#39;s product if I use their open source code?
<p>Does a company own my company's product if I use their open source code?</p>

<p>I am reading through the SDK License agreement of a company's code and it reads:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>========================================</p>
  
  <h1>2.  Intellectual Property</h1>
  
  <p>(a) [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code.  All right, title and interest in and to the intellectual property embodied in the [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code, including any improvements, enhancements or other modifications thereto made by [corp name], is owned by, and shall remain the property of [corp name], including, <strong><em>without limitation</em></strong>, any associated patents, copyrights, trademarks and logos. [corp name] is free to use, implement and incorporate in the [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code any suggestions, ideas, recommendations or feedback of Licensee, without payment of additional consideration to Licensee. Licensee acknowledges that the [corp name] SDK and [corp name] Code shall remain the sole and exclusive property of [corp name], notwithstanding such use, implementation or incorporation.</p>
  
  <p>========================================</p>
  
  <p>(b)       Licensee Products.  All right, title and interest in and to the intellectual property embodied in the Licensee Products, including any improvements, enhancements or other modifications thereto made by Licensee, is owned by, and shall remain the property of Licensee, including, without limitation, any associated patents, copyrights, trademarks and logos, subject to [corp name]’s ownership of the [corp name] Code and [corp name] SDK.</p>
  
  <p>========================================</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Can they sue me and/or take my profits if I use their code? What if I only look at their product and reverse engineer it? What is the extent of legal power they have in this situation?</p>

<p>You should probably get a lawyer, but my reading is this: The company whose SDK you use owns their SDK, owns their code, and is free to take any of your ideas how to improve their code without paying you. But they say that ideas are ten a penny, so this is mostly there to prevent pointless lawsuits. </p>

<p>On the other hand, it says that everything you do with your product is yours. </p>

<p>I might be completely wrong, that's why you should get a lawyer. </p>

<p>Based on the text you've provided, you, as Licensee, would own your original contribution as</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>any improvements, enhancements or other modifications thereto made by Licensee, >is owned by, and shall remain the property of Licensee,</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The company, obviously, retains the IP rights to the SDK software they created that you are making improvements from, i.e., derivative works.</p>

<p>You should still consult a lawyer.  Often, open source software can't be used for commercial purposes under the open source license, so beware if that is your intention.</p>
