Can code logic be copyrighted?
<p>Scenario:</p>

<p>I work at company A and write some code for them which is something trivial but used in a product that is proprietary and hence the code is company property.</p>

<p>Then I leave the company A and join company B.</p>

<p>Company B needs something that can use the code and logic I learned in company A. There is very little I can change in code I learned at company A to get the similar functionality.</p>

<p>Question:</p>

<ol>
<li>Am I infringing on the copyrights of company A because the code is similar?</li>
<li>Is it possible to copyright ideas and logic such that if you designed something in company A you may never design it, even from scratch, in company B?</li>
</ol>

<p>Are there any workarounds? Otherwise you'd run out of your skills due to all your work being copyrighted somewhere or other.</p>

<p>Algorithms can be <strong>patented</strong>, e.g.,  <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)#Patent" rel="noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_(cryptosystem)#Patent</a> (and see, e.g., <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent" rel="noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent</a> for further discussion).</p>

<p><strong>Copyright</strong> is only for specific code. So if your <strong>Company A</strong> has copyrighted the code you wrote, but not patented the algorithms implemented by that code, then you can subsequently go to <strong>Company B</strong> and legally reprogram those same algorithms.</p>

copyright non-compete non-disclosure secret