> "The rights to any intellectual property created by employee during his work shall be transferred to employer in full."
It says "during work", so anything created in your spare time is out of the question, isn't it?
Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
61–70 of 71 posts
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#62I had to deal with this recently. Apparently these are "standard templates".
I hired a lawyer to rewrite that section to have a clearly split for side stuff and the company's stuff as well as the other invention assignment sections. See github's for an example of a fair agreement https://github.com/github/balanced-employee-ip-agreement). The company accepted it and everyone was happy.
If the company doesn't accept that they have no business taking ownership of completely unrelated stuff you do outside of work hours find another company to work for, they clearly don't care about you as a person.
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#63Ignore advice on the internet and get a lawyer instead. I encountered this clause at a previous job and i did not sign anything until we agreed on an additional document stating that that clause does not apply. I got the advice of a lawyer and vetted the additional document before signing. This clause was not even legal in my country Contract law should be taken seriously. Get a lawyer and see if you can push back. I…
To be honest.. if I needed to consult a lawyer for a new job I would just find another job.
Yea I mean it's good advice to get a lawyer, but imagine you had to do that for every job offer. You'd be spending so much upfront just to get a job. And they don't even reimburse you for the cost of the modified contract from the hired lawyer if you accept.
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
'As an employee you have a duty of loyalty to your employer' Incredibly naive if someone does this. In a employee/employer relationship, I believe one should only be loyal to themselves. Again, have integrity and don't steal stuff, but be loyal to yourself.
This is a legal concept. You have to be loyal to your employer. You can’t intentionally undermine their business, charge them for hours you didn’t work, etc. It doesn’t mean that you have to go out of your way to advance their ends.
Maybe the word "loyal" is confusing here. I'm not aware of any legal requirement for loyalty. There's a legal prohibition against fraud and such, though.
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a legal concept. You have to be loyal to your employer. You can’t intentionally undermine their business, charge them for hours you didn’t work, etc. It doesn’t mean that you have to go out of your way to advance their ends.
Maybe the word "loyal" is confusing here. I'm not aware of any legal requirement for loyalty. There's a legal prohibition against fraud and such, though.
It is literally called a duty of loyalty in many legal systems. Something you could have easily confirmed with a quick Google search in half the time it took to write your comment.
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#66[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#67Just make your projects very expensive for them to run at scale, like building them on top of AWS and several other cloud services. If you ever get out of the company the know-how will be yours and then you can create an optimized version.
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#68As an employee you have a duty of loyalty to your employer. I’m not sure about side projects generally, that is probably a Cyprus specific question. But I’d be shocked if it’s legal anywhere to release a product that competes with what you work on at your job. That’s just common sense. You would likely be violating not just your employment contract, but also trade secret, copyright, patents, etc. This is egregious en…
> But I’d be shocked if it’s legal anywhere to release a product that competes with what you work on at your job. That happens everyday. In fact most companies are found by people who already work in the industry. You simply should not steal trade secrets, copyright or patents.
Everything can be a trade secret. They’re not labeled with a stamp that says “Trade Secret”. If you’re working on a direct competitor to something you make at work, you are almost certainly stealing trade secrets without even realizing.
Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#69As an employee you have a duty of loyalty to your employer. I’m not sure about side projects generally, that is probably a Cyprus specific question. But I’d be shocked if it’s legal anywhere to release a product that competes with what you work on at your job. That’s just common sense. You would likely be violating not just your employment contract, but also trade secret, copyright, patents, etc. This is egregious en…
Hmm yes, in the same way they are loyal to employees despite being able to fire them with no notice? Terrible ideology.
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Re: Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?
#70A few comments here point the OP/ hint to the OP that a lawyer be consulted. This is likely a good move. 1. Is it possible to explore obtaining an agreement from the company that the lawyer's bill (probably won't be more than two hours' worth of lawyer time) be foot by the company? 2. Independent of (1), and under general circumstances (not violent boss, etc.), should OP relate his lawyer's interpretation to his boss…
Presumably, the side project you want to work on is valuable. It's worth paying the lawyer out of your own pocket -- you want the lawyer to be working for you, not the employer. And the lawyer should not also be a lawyer of the company -- the lawyer should not have a conflict of interest.
good point!