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Showing posts from January 20, 2013

Understanding joint ownership of conserved and non-conserved entities

Here is a sharp distinction in definitions that I've found in my professional world. This pertains to the concept of "joint ownership" of something. I have collaborated with several companies and usually when it comes to this issue of joint ownership of the fruits of collaboration, things get messy. By one definition of joint ownership, which I have predominantly seen coming from MNC companies is that, if two parties jointly own some entity, then neither of them can use the entity without the permission of the other. And for this reason the companies are keen to buy off full ownership of the entity from collaborators. On the other hand, I have seen this alternate definition of joint ownership, predominantly coming from local companies -- especially startups. This says that, if two parties jointly own some entity, they are both empowered to use it in whatever way they want and does not need the other's permission for anything. This disparity in definitions was