In general you should avoid signing the standard contracts at any job. I've always made changes to protect my after-hours work, and they've been okayed every single time.
Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
11–20 of 120 posts
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#12Depends on where you live. Heavily state dependent.
Absolutely. Along with the standard, "talk to a lawyer" advice, it's worth noting a few things:
1) Virtually every major technology company includes intellectual property assignment agreements in the paperwork they require new hires to sign. Most startups probably have the same policy, many perhaps without even knowing it, since its part of plenty of standard paperwork. Y Combinator's standard paperwork includes such a clause.
2) For all of the ones I've seen (and I imagine most respectable companies, and probably every company in California, for reasons to be mentioned), the paperwork claims ownership over anything developed a) during work hours, or b) using company owned equipment, resources, or IP, or c) anything that doesn't fall into the first two categories but that involves an area of business the company is active in, or has plans to be active in.
3) The reason California companies all have roughly the same language, is because those restrictions are what are specified in California state law. Given the nature of California in the tech industry, I would guess that influences what a lot of tech companies use as a general policy. The language is somewhat complicated by the third part of the equation, but generally I believe the company has to be able to show damages in such an instance.
4) There are no such general protections on the federal level, and I believe a majority of states do not offer those protections, meaning that in many states all work, and even in some cases all ideas, that you generate during your employment belong to your employer (if you signed a contract to that effect with the employer).
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#13Very often, yes. The boilerplate IP contracts provided by most law firms usually claims one of: * All software development work you ever do while employed by the company. * All software development work you do using in any way any resource of the company, from computer to network connection. * All software development work you do related to the business of the company that employs you. * All software development work…
This also varies somewhat by state; there's a law in California (Labor Code section 2870[1]) that bars employers from claiming work that an employee does "on his or her own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secret information" unless the invention relates directly to the employer's business. I'd still check with a lawyer, though, even if in California --- and if elsewhere, most states are a lot less generous.
[1] http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=lab...
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#14Very often, yes. The boilerplate IP contracts provided by most law firms usually claims one of: * All software development work you ever do while employed by the company. * All software development work you do using in any way any resource of the company, from computer to network connection. * All software development work you do related to the business of the company that employs you. * All software development work…
This also varies somewhat by state; there's a law in California (Labor Code section 2870[1]) that bars employers from claiming work that an employee does "on his or her own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secret information" unless the invention relates directly to the employer's business. I'd still check with a lawyer, though, even if in California --- and if elsewhere, mos…
There was also a similar clause in my washington employment contract. The law even states that the clause must be put in all contracts and still applies if it doesn't.
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#15Google, my employer, recently refused a request that I made to release as open source some software that I had been working on in my spare time and without using any of their resources, on they claim that my software would compete with one of their projects. :-(
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#16http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=lab...
Unless I'm reading this wrong: if you work on it solely on your time, with your equipment, it's yours (in California, anyway).
UPDATE: Oh, also it can't compete with their business.
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#17Very often, yes. The boilerplate IP contracts provided by most law firms usually claims one of: * All software development work you ever do while employed by the company. * All software development work you do using in any way any resource of the company, from computer to network connection. * All software development work you do related to the business of the company that employs you. * All software development work…
This also varies somewhat by state; there's a law in California (Labor Code section 2870[1]) that bars employers from claiming work that an employee does "on his or her own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secret information" unless the invention relates directly to the employer's business. I'd still check with a lawyer, though, even if in California --- and if elsewhere, mos…
It may be harder than you expect to establish that you're not in a business related to your former employer, at least to the extent that you can quickly end a legal action; all I'm saying is, that legal safeguard may not be as helpful as you'd hope.
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#18It's a seller's market, don't take a job at a company with policies you don't agree with, regardless of how common they are or how enforceable they might be[1]. It's quite easy to find employers in the bay area that don't demand such things or will waive the clause. Make sure to tell them why you didn't take the job. [1] I suppose if it's clearly and completely unenforceable little harm is done
In some cases --- maybe a lot of them --- the board of directors requires the management team to operate from an approved boilerplate contract. I'm sure you can get anything overridden, but I wouldn't fly off the handle just because I saw an agreement like this.
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#19It depends on what your contract says... I work for a firm that clearly states that whatever you do, if it involves their equipment, resources, or time, or knowledge gained while working with them, they have IP rights at that point. That being said, some companies allow you to do stuff on your own, e.g. work for a different client / project outside your billable hours, and they don't have rights to those products (as long as you're clearly showing that you're not using shared resources).
Re: Does my company have IP rights to the stuff I do in my spare time?
#20Very often, yes. The boilerplate IP contracts provided by most law firms usually claims one of: * All software development work you ever do while employed by the company. * All software development work you do using in any way any resource of the company, from computer to network connection. * All software development work you do related to the business of the company that employs you. * All software development work…
Even if your company doesn't sue you immediately, the fact that the intellectual property might be of questionable ownership can also mess up fundings or acquisitions down the road. If a company is looking to buy you and realizes that there's a chance of BigCorp claiming ownership of some piece of your IP because you signed a bad employment contract, it's going to be one more reason for them to say no to the deal.