Legal Question in Business Law in Indiana

Long story short. A business owner owns a business for 15+ years. He is a programmer who writes financial software and has a client base established along with a financial software program he wrote. After a divorce he finds he cannot run his business and manage his two employees and asks a friend, who owns a similar business to take over. The former business owner and his two employees now work under the friend's business. They still have the same clients and software they brought with them and the friend has little to no involvement with them, their software or with their clients other than managing their payroll.

Fast forward 6 years.

The former business owner(person who wrote the software) and two employees decide they no longer want to work under the friend's business and management and want to take their software and clients and leave. I should add that when the former business owner asked his friend to take over, no contract, no agreement, no sale, or handshake of any kind was made. The former owner simply asked his friend to take over.

Who owns the software? And can the Former Business owner and the two employees take their software/clients and simply leave?


Asked on 9/27/12, 10:09 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kenneth Wilk Rubino Ruman Crosmer & Polen

That was really a short story made long. Even though there were not written understandings, oral understandings can be binding. This is a matter which should be ironed out by all parties by negotiation and agreement--otherwise there could be problems down the road. Consult with a corporate and intellectual property law attorney.

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Answered on 9/27/12, 3:05 pm


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