14 DAY TRIAL // Google Sky, the celestial vision from Google Earth, is currently the object of a lawsuit filed in Atlanta's Northern District Court of Georgia. The plaintiff sued for $25 million on the basis that, according to him, the Mountain View-based company stole the idea that he came up with and later "convened an internal Google Groups email discussion group" in which he "presented, advanced, and refined the Google Sky concept and idea," as The Register reported.
Jonathan Cobb was hired as a contract worker by Google, via WorkforceLogic USA, and claims to have "made disclosure of his previously developed Sky idea and concept" when he applied with the WL USA. He states that the email discussion group was centered on the following subjects:
"a) An interface similar to that of Google Earth with upgrades, including the presentation of a Day and Night view and related space imagery; b) An interface with differing telescope control systems; c) Access to and the ability to use GPS devices for positioning information; d) Object tracking; (e) Forecasting; f) The ability to subscribe to high resolution imagery from Earth and space-based telescopes; g) Live image overlay and recording ability; and h) Optical modulation measurement," as the suit reads.
Truth be told, the above pretty much gather under the umbrella everything Google Sky is. Neither Google nor WorkforceLogic USA have responded to requests for comment, but that is only to be expected, due to the short time since the lawsuit was filed. It takes time to put together the evidence that the claims are false, if that is the situation.
It would be interesting to be able to see Cobb's contract, because many such papers specify that anything created in the period of time spent being on the employer's payroll belongs to the latter. IP/work rights are one of the most difficult to regulate and many jurisdictions do not allow separation of the work done in the spare time and that while at the workplace.