[jdawg77]

If this isn't lies, and you live in a country with IP laws, it's easy:

Step 1. Validate your claim is legit; documentation and everything goes a long way. Archive.org is actionable in court (for fun, I put up an article on how I can invalidate several Microsoft patents, due to my prior art from 2000 - the patent was in 2008).

Step 2. Get in touch with your own lawyers, after getting some advice on RocketLawyer or similar. To whit, I could not get a lawyer to take my case last year, despite prior case rules in California, referral from a District Attorney AND a victory in California court through mediation, with more charges still pending against the startup.

Step 3. Assuming even like me, you have legal precedent, history and proof - you need funding. Apparently, as I have found, nobody gives a !@#$@$ in the United States of America about actual crime. I've got a ton of documentation, the only thing I have yet to do is literally CALL the police, and ask, point blank, "Why is that man not in jail?"

Step 4. Now that you how hard this uphill battle is guaranteed to be, if you have the proof, if you have the lawyer friends, finally - do you have the money? Can you get it? If that's true on both, review your stomach, because it'll be a long, hard battle. Family, friends and business associates have all "Disowned me," for various reasons, even though I was the victim. Unreal, but true. See Gamergate as well - the victim loses in the modern USA, at least. Other countries, like Maldives, Costa Rica - the victim also loses.

Step 5. Prepare to lose your professional reputation, even if you win in mediation. I'd love to say that if you win in court, like Michael Jackson before you, that somehow, people realize it wasn't you who did wrong. However, sadly, many people still believe he's a pedophile, many people don't believe I was robbed and fired while my boss was in Hawaii, my step-dad in hospital with 10% chance to live.

Sorry, bro. If you want a referral to awesome lawyers, I'm happy to help and do whatever it takes to help somebody. I care. I just wish other people would, too.

[morgante]

He released the IP under an open source license.

Litigating this is both foolhardy and an uphill battle. Even if he can prove that they weren't giving proper credit, it's extremely hard to prove damages when there is an open source license.

[jdawg77]

Proving damages, with open source on the backs of funding, is relatively easy for an attorney with startup experienc, knows how much it costs to build a brand + reputation, etc. Then you can put together a financial model on, "Opportunity cost," re-coup it in a civil case, on top of and after the criminal case is finished. A good law firm will file both separately.

Nice, though, for crapping on his chances. I love the positive thinking.