So today I receive 23 emails on DMCA takedown notice from last year project (which is a personal project). I asked Github why they think it is violating their policy, they told me they receive tonnes of complaints from a company, they shared the chat and that's the ex-company that fired me.

Even the project is not related to them, they seem to want to "Cancel" me on Github. Bro this is Github, not Twitter! Cancel culture does not work here.

Some of my IoT projects they flag it In Github, which I believe my ex-company they don't do any IOT projects. How the fuck it is violating their so called "code nondisclosure"?

These repos that they report to GitHub are not even related to the company. These repo are my personal projects.

@jespersh yes. But I'm to broke to even do that

@jespersh Yeap in my country is way too expensive.

I hope you never made a pull during working hours.
Here all code I write during working hours is copyrighted to the company.
So I just release the code as open-source with agreement of the boss.

@Grumm Huh?

@GeorgeBool yucks. I can imagine that.😨

@johnmelodyme Yeah, intellectual rights in Belgium sucks.
It is common to have contracts like that.
(Previous job had one too when I left : I was not allowed to reuse code made in that company and I could not join a new company in the same sector in the first 5 years)

@johnmelodyme that more common than you might think.

The idea is that anything you create while employed is implicitly owned by the company, in many cases even if it’s completely unrelated to their business.

Best case you have records that you started the project before joining, then you have a better case, but many laws are written more for companies than people since companies have more time and money to spend on lobbying :/

But you should check out what the law states in your country, in some its the opposite and the company might have to prove they payed for the development.

@theKarlisK but those projects are completed few years back , I joined this company on 2021. Unless we time travel back to 2019 and make a commit then yes.

@theKarlisK here's the thing. I didn't . The last commits are on 2020.

@theKarlisK Wait I can do that?

@theKarlisK it is common when working on 'in-house' software. (In my case anyways)
Just to prevent a dev copies the source code, change the name and release it on it's own.
The other part, is to make sure, you don't use the knowledge you gained to help an other company.

@johnmelodyme You should be fine then. Countering the dmca should be ok for github

@Grumm I have a question. If the company want me to remove the repo, I removed it , will the accusations still persists?

@johnmelodyme That I don't know. Unless it was stolen code, they can go further and start a lawsuit with home search and all (To find usb's/ hard drives)
I guess they will not go that far :D
They probably want to shutdown your github (revenge, jealous ?)

I remembered back in the day, the only way to prove it was your code, you had to have a printed copy of that said code.

If you suspect something, make the repo's private and counter the claims.

@theKarlisK Yes, it does not apply in all cases.
I can only speak from experience.
I worked on developing an ERP system that was focused on furniture stores.
When I left, I had to sign an agreement (or pay a ridiculous fine) to not join any competitor that also was specialized in making ERP systems for furniture stores.
So any other ERP is fine. (It is a rabbit hole with a lot of different interpretations)

@johnmelodyme ask github along with any evidence andarguments.
Removing the repo will indicating accepting their claim and also destroying your evidence.

If you really need, make it private.

@Voxera I already remove it and host it somewhere else like gitlab, private of course.

If the last commit you did was before you joined, then they cant do shit bc it’s obvious you never touched them while you were there. I’m a bit weirded out over how their minds work...they already let you go. Why are they continuing to punish you after? If they know the last commits you pushed for these projects was before you joined, then for some reason they want to continue to make your life miserable (AFTER LETTING YOU GO FOR FUCKS SAKE) as if you’ve done something truly horrible...imo you’d have to do something as horrible as correcting code written by jr’s so they can learn or speaking English for this kind of attention. Wait..that’s what you did..you sadistic depraved monster!

@TeachMeCode because they can.

There are people that has so little life of their own they can only feel better by messing with others life.

@Grumm those type of contract in Belgium are illegale and can be ignored if it's in your contract. It is up to THz complainer to prove it's theirs and it must be clearly substantial . a simpele if-else does not apply.

Don't be afraid of it, that's just scaremongering from companies that think they are big but actually so so damn small.

Before taking legal action check your contact. It often is not limited to working hours. Some contracts take ownership of any code written during employment unless explicitly excluded. In some countries this is illigal (yet contain this anyway) but in others the contract is binding.

@hjk101 Still, if all code was done prior to his employment, no contract can take it from him.

But there is also a saying, “innocent until broke” :/

In some countries you can sue some one easily and if the do not have the money to defend them self, they can still win even when they do not have legal ground :/

23 is a lucky number