• Question: What do you do if another scientist steals your ideas?

    Asked by anon-227017 to William, Thibaut "Tibo", Harry, Georgia, Emily, Aimee on 13 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: William Wiseman

      William Wiseman answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      I guess it depends on what the idea is and who stole it. I work with my Fiancé so if she stole it, then that’s personal. A lot of the time, it is less about who has the idea and more about who turns that idea into a saleable product. The company wins in that scenario and we are all part of the same company.

    • Photo: Aimee Egglestone

      Aimee Egglestone answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      It depends on how much proof, if any, you have that you had the idea first. It can be really hard to prove, so often the real inventor doesn’t get credit! If you look at how many people claim to have invented the television you’ll see that there is also a lot of bias based on where you come from – a huge number of countries claim that the TV was invented in their country, because various parts of the research to develop the TV were undertaken in different parts of the world!

    • Photo: Georgia Orton

      Georgia Orton answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      There are examples where this happens and it can have very serious consequences for example loosing your job. This is a recent example where a senior researcher took an idea from a junior colleague: https://cen.acs.org/research-integrity/Single-molecule-magnet-controversy-highlights/96/i45

    • Photo: Thibaut Deviese

      Thibaut Deviese answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      Each working place has procedures to deal with this kind of issue.

    • Photo: Emily Sparkes

      Emily Sparkes answered on 18 Nov 2019:

      It depends on the severity of the theft and how much proof you have! The case that Georgia mentioned actually happened at my university and I know the people who’s idea got stolen. It’s a very sneaky thing to do and really not very nice. Although sometimes it happens by accident- two labs may be working in the same field and happen to come to the same conclusions at the same time. We call it being ‘scooped’. If that happens then there isn’t really anything you can do about it other than try and come up with some new ideas related to your original one, which kinda sucks.

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