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My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

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Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#81

Post by pekk »

wyager wrote: post #67
ISL wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong work. Not everyone has the will, nor the financial wherewithal, to do such a thing.

>Not everyone has the will... to do such a thing. This may just be crotchety old man talk, but sometimes I wonder if the extremely protective child-rearing (particularly in schools) that seems to be abundant today will make future adults particularly susceptible to this kind of bullying. If you never have to deal with this kind of social stress as a child, how can you possibly deal with it as an adult? Perhaps gettin…

Being humiliated and beaten as a child with no control over the situation is not "training" for anything. It's abundantly clear that you did not experience that and have no idea what it is like for a child. Let's hope as a crotchety old man that nobody ever decides to show you what it's like when you're stuck in a nursing home where no one believes or cares to help you because of some stupid reason like that it should toughen you up.

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#82

Post by rodgerd »

zecho wrote: post #42

Maybe don't sign these types of contracts? We are fortunate enough that even the most mediocre among us can hold out for the next employer that doesn't demand this kind of control over you, or start your own company. I don't give a shit what a company says about their culture of work/life balance or whatever. If I see blanket IP clauses unrelated to non-compete, or like arbitration clauses that remove us from civil c…

> We are fortunate enough that even the most mediocre among us can hold out for the next employer that doesn't demand this kind of control over you, or start your own company.

That's great this year. When the bubble pops - as it surely will, and if you think otherwise you're as bad as the cretins who were writing about all the rules changing forever in 2000 - things will be different. The time to press for change is when times are good and when you have leverage.

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#83

Post by cordite »

jordanthoms wrote: post #40
keypusher wrote: post #4

I've always been particularly confused by the contract clauses which specify that all work of the employee during their time at the company is property of the company itself. Does this mean that if I develop some completely unrelated software in my spare time while working as a programmer at a large company, that the software I created at home also belongs to my employer? What if I was to write a book during that sam…

If you are in California, the relevant law is http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=lab&gr... "2870. (a) 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 equipme…

Where can I find similar provisions for other states?

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#84

Post by pekk »

michaelochurch wrote: post #47
goostavos wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an awful lot of maybes. Maybe I was a good employee, met my deadlines, respected both company time and my own, and also enjoyed working on pet projects in my free time. It is absolutely absurd that a company feels entitled to my personal work because of "maybe."

Maybe I was a good employee, met my deadlines, respected both company time and my own, and also enjoyed working on pet projects in my free time. It is absolutely absurd that a company feels entitled to my personal work because of "maybe." Organizations tend toward pessimism because people respond more strongly to shame, insult, and embarrassment (of themselves and others) than to victory, pride, altruism, and shared…

> That's why there's so much HR literature on how to conduct "low performer" witch hunts (get those time thieves!) while companies don't do the least thing to support high performers (except offer them more money when they seem likely to leave).

No, that's because a company is trying to reduce its expenditures. If a high performer isn't leaving, the company sees no evidence of any advantage in paying them more.

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#85

Post by JoeAltmaier »

pekk wrote: post #84
michaelochurch wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I was a good employee, met my deadlines, respected both company time and my own, and also enjoyed working on pet projects in my free time. It is absolutely absurd that a company feels entitled to my personal work because of "maybe." Organizations tend toward pessimism because people respond more strongly to shame, insult, and embarrassment (of themselves and others) than to victory, pride, altruism, and shared…

> That's why there's so much HR literature on how to conduct "low performer" witch hunts (get those time thieves!) while companies don't do the least thing to support high performers (except offer them more money when they seem likely to leave). No, that's because a company is trying to reduce its expenditures. If a high performer isn't leaving, the company sees no evidence of any advantage in paying them more.

Its to reduce the risk of them leaving unpredictably when another offer comes in. If they've received regular raises for performance, then they balance that against a single windfall salary increase.

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#86

Post by DenisM »

outside1234 wrote: post #66

At Microsoft we don't have these contracts. You are free to work on whatever after hours (with your own equipment and not using company resources).

That is most certainly wrong. I checked with a lawyer when I was there, in 2008, and their conclusion was that MS owns everything I invent during my tenure. The key "trick" is that they own "what's relevant to the business of Microsoft", which of course any type of software is!

You should check with a lawyer as well.

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#88

Post by jonny_eh »

wyager wrote: post #67
ISL wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strong work. Not everyone has the will, nor the financial wherewithal, to do such a thing.

>Not everyone has the will... to do such a thing. This may just be crotchety old man talk, but sometimes I wonder if the extremely protective child-rearing (particularly in schools) that seems to be abundant today will make future adults particularly susceptible to this kind of bullying. If you never have to deal with this kind of social stress as a child, how can you possibly deal with it as an adult? Perhaps gettin…

Kids have it worse today if anything. Once they go home they continue to get tormented online.

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#89

Post by harrylove »

cordite wrote: post #83
jordanthoms wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are in California, the relevant law is http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=lab&gr... "2870. (a) 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 equipme…

Where can I find similar provisions for other states?

To start, search for "employee intellectual property agreement [state]"

Washington State: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=49.44.140

Re: My Ideas, My Boss’s Property

#90

Post by brc »

keypusher wrote: post #4

I've always been particularly confused by the contract clauses which specify that all work of the employee during their time at the company is property of the company itself. Does this mean that if I develop some completely unrelated software in my spare time while working as a programmer at a large company, that the software I created at home also belongs to my employer? What if I was to write a book during that sam…

Even if you have this type of blanket clause you can get a carve-out for a specific piece of work. Usually done by notifying your manager in writing that you're working on a home project (book, whatever) and that it won't be done on company time or company materials.

Of course this sucks that you can't do it stealthily, but you usually can get a carve-out. IANAL though.

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