We’re watching a Netflix thing which is a bit like The Social Network but about Google Earth instead. The claim is that a German team created something called Terra Vision in 93/4 and that the algorithm designer shared his key ideas with a tech guru from Silicon Graphics who latter used this ideas to create Google Earth.
I don’t know what the outcome is yet because we’ve only seen the first two episodes and I’ve never heard of Terra Vision before. But the suggestion seems to be that Google’s moot of Don’t be evil might be just hot air! Surprise.
That's not how it works.
I've worked in the IP world for, erm, nearly 15 years now.
Here is how it really works:
An individual or team devises something. Say it is a new mapping system.
They will possibly prototype it or just document the concept.
They and lawyers will crawl all over the description, looking for 'novel concepts'. If there are any, then someone writes these up for a patent application.
Maybe there is nothing 'novel' in the system. In that case, they might just go straight to either implementing or touting their system.
If anyone in the initial team discusses the system with someone outside the company; that is it. You've lost rights. The race is then just to the first to implement the system, and the only advantage they have is of being first. Ebay succeeds, not because the concept of an auction site is unique, but because of built customer base.
I've changed employers 3 times in my 15 years. It can get really awkward talking about tech, I worked on things (particularly at Arm) that were confidential and not yet patented. I can't now talk about those to anyone in Xilinx, even if I work there.
It does happen that people open their big gobs. They are usually traced down and, depending on the country in which they reside, hounded through the courts. They are unlikely to ever get work on things touching IP ever again.
