At Crowdbotics you are required to be working on at least one side project, either for fun or for profit, at all times. You own it.
Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
21–30 of 43 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#22Previous company was essentially "We own everything you create whether during work or not" I think my contract was worded in a way that meant technically speaking any ideas I had while under their employment belong to them too. I'm not sure how they'd have enforced it, but was unwilling to challenge it. Major part of my reasoning to leave. I left with a fair bit of leverage due to an unrelated matter so managed to se…
> I'm not sure how they'd have enforced it In a lot of cases they probably couldn't. The purpose of this sort of clause isn't that they can actually use it to claim truly unrelated work you did on your own time. The main purpose of a clause like this is to ensure that if the work is defensibly related to your job you can't make the argument that the contract left you a loophole.
Oh I mean the "we own your ideas" bit. They did enforce the side project part, asking me to take down the site. There were other things going on at the time which meant I had a bit of leverage and we parted ways amicably with the rights to everything side-project being given to me as part of my exit.
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#23The last few jobs I've worked have had the policy that they own everything by default but you can declare in writing past and new side projects and ideas to exclude. I think this is a reasonable balance between freedom for me and securing the company interests
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#24Huh. Everywhere i worked, the rules were along the lines of "you can do whatever you want as long as the goals/deadlines are met".
A company taking copyright of personal projects of it's employees is unheard of around here (Russia).
I've actually encountered this kind of clause in a contract for working as a subcontractor for an american company (they own rights to everything i made during the contract), but when i pointed it out as unacceptable it was removed without any questions (before signing).
So this feels like USA-specific and predatory type of a clause, at least from my perspective.
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#25Why are we seeing all these questions involving "Google" on "Ask HN" lately?
In most of the big companies is as you've described.
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#26The last few jobs I've worked have had the policy that they own everything by default but you can declare in writing past and new side projects and ideas to exclude. I think this is a reasonable balance between freedom for me and securing the company interests
It's pretty bad if you're the kind of person who picks up a new side project each month.
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#27> Otherwise, Google owns any IP created while you're at the company.
Not necessary in California: Any provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign, or offer to assign, any of his or her rights in an invention to his or her employer shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer s equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information. http://law.justia.com/codes/california/2011/lab/division-3/2...
There are exceptions of course, major one: you have not compete with your employer.
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#28At Crowdbotics you are required to be working on at least one side project, either for fun or for profit, at all times. You own it.
Some people might not like that, but I think that's awesome. I wish more companies operated like that.
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#29Previous company was essentially "We own everything you create whether during work or not" I think my contract was worded in a way that meant technically speaking any ideas I had while under their employment belong to them too. I'm not sure how they'd have enforced it, but was unwilling to challenge it. Major part of my reasoning to leave. I left with a fair bit of leverage due to an unrelated matter so managed to se…
I had a job offer from a company with that kind of "Everything you create is ours" clause in the contract(along with a pretty broad non-compete). I think a bit part of it was a that it was a remote work position. When I pushed back about it, the guy trying to hire me basically told me "don't worry about it, I've seen it enforced", and I'm not even sure how legally sound the clauses were, but I ended up not taking the…
If you really want the job, mention that you do community volunteer work and that you want to make sure that other worthy causes aren't affected -- so you want to send the contract to your lawyer, and have it hashed out between lawyers. Then make sure your lawyer really knows what your goals are so that they can get the wording changed.
Specifically, I'd accept wording that included "excludes personal project work done 100% outside of a work context, unless such work is related to a direct work assignment". But a lawyer would have to point out any loopholes in that wording.
Re: Ask HN: What is your company's policy regarding side-projects?
#30A related question -- for companies that assert copyright over all your work done on personal time -- do you typically receive this prior to your start date (along with the job offer letter), or is it something that you have to sign after starting?