Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Ending an ''inadvertent partnership'' and keeping what I created

I am a computer programmer who entered an ''inadvertent partnership'' with three other people by only giving my verbal ok. Since the partnership formed three months ago, I have done all of the work writing code for an as-yet incomplete software program. The other three met with me four times and we brainstormed together, but all of the actual work that can be physically stored on a computer was done by me. Since this is an at-will partnership, can I just inform the other three members that I am leaving the partnership and walk away with my software code free from any claims by them on it? We did share ideas, but it was all conversational and I had to make the ideas a reality. Now that I have spent well over 250 hours of labor on this, and they have merely spent 4 hours each in the group meetings, can they possibly claim any of my work as jointly theirs? Do I need to have them sign a contract releasing all of their claims on my work before I can legally claim it as 100% mine? What are all of the actions that I must take in order to have full ownership of the code that I produced?


Asked on 1/26/02, 4:42 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Charles Cruikshank Cruikshank Law Office-Since 1975

Re: Ending an ''inadvertent partnership'' and keeping what I created

Partnership law is complex, and you have an unusually good understanding of it for a non-lawyer. Your situation is one that I have encountered before, but it is not necessarily the same (or a simple) one.

If you want to hold onto your disproportionate contributions, but avoid litigation and the resulting uncertainty, a negotiation strategy will best suit your goals.

I can�t make specific recommendations without knowing more about your specific situation, but if you want to contact me, I�ll see if I can help you. I�ve been working in business/corporate/partnership law since 1975.

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Answered on 1/27/02, 1:53 pm


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