I have an idea which I am implementing right now. It is taking advantage of a feature provided by a multi billion dollar company who hasn't realized that it can make huge sum of money by making it a paid feature or limiting its use. I have signed a contract with the company and the contract is currently has no regulations on what I am doing, but I am afraid that the company will change the contract as soon as it realizes that I am using the system. What kind of legal protection I should try to obtain? I cannot share the idea with anyone unless I have fully implemented it? I am an owner of a small startup and am afraid that I might get screwed over. I just want to make sure that whatever I have done before the company changes it policy remains mine as mentioned in the contract. Any suggestions?
As a small startup you are not going to win against the big boyz. They can drop millions in the lawyers' pockets to win. And they will. Have you seen the lengths that Google went to appeal a $761 case > <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-google-bothered-to-ap_b_213176.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/why-google-bot...</a><p>Erin Brockovich style success is very rare.<p>A game plan is as follows:<p>1. Get it working<p>2. Market your awesome idea, start making serious money<p>3. Identify your billion dollar company's arch enemy / competitor or similar who can set lawyers upon your billion dollar company and win.<p>4. Sell the running and growing business to them<p>5. Send me 10% for this great piece of advice :-)
Unfortunately, without more specifics, it's really hard to give specific advice (besides the obvious, and necessary: get a lawyer).<p>What do you mean when you say "I want to make sure that whatever I have done [...] remains mine"? Are you writing code? If so, it is difficult to imagine a scenario where you wouldn't you retain the rights to your own code. (Naturally, that doesn't prevent anyone else from implementing the same idea).<p>Clearly, you need to make sure your business plan can survive changes from the big company-- if your idea is that dependent upon what sounds like a loophole in their TOS, you're odds of success are slim indeed. How do you know they don't have a team working on an identical system now, ready to launch next week?