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Subject:RE: What a predicament! From:"Sella Rush" <srush -at- MusicNet -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 1 Mar 2002 10:54:36 -0800
Hi anonymous--
Normally I would have posted this privately, but here goes...
I understand where you're coming from with regard to being part of the planning process and then having upper management come in and make arbitrary decisions. It is incredibly frustrating because the planning process had given you a sense of ownership in the product and the company, and it's good to feel like you have some control over your future. You feel hijacked.
Based on my own experience and others, the only thing I can say is that everyone has to learn this painful lesson once. The good news is that if you have any sense of self-preservation at all, you'll never let yourself get so totally invested in a company or product again.
I address this issue first because I think it might be the stronger underlying issue behind what's happening to you.
As someone else mentioned, we don't have enough facts to be sure, but I'm not certain you are correct in thinking that what they asked you to do was illegal. Were they actually telling you to copy text? Graphics? Proprietary information?
While you're in the yellow pages, you might flip over to intellectual property lawyers . If what you're talking about is the look of your documents, using the same fonts and writing style, even the same organization, this is not copyright infringement. Unethical, maybe, but not illegal. Ever gone to a grocery store and accidently picked up the store brand of antihistamine when you were looking for Sudafed? Safeway has a whole industry of packaging generic brands that look similar to the popular brands. Unethical, but not illegal.
I am certainly not saying that they treated you right; slapping a PIP on you for voicing your concerns was not very constructive or ethical (but we've already answered that question). But before you sue based on what you think are illegal practices, you might just want to verify that.
As to your next move, I also advocate resigning rather than waiting to be fired. But I'd also keep my mouth shut unless you can actually prove illegal practices.
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