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Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive

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Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive

#1
The company I work for (software engineer, advertising industry) was recently acquired by a larger company.

The new employment contract stipulates the usual oppressive confidential information and IP assignment things, detailing how the company owns anything I come up with. The state I'm in specifically protects my rights to things I create entirely independently (outside company time and equipment) but the contract also has a clause that says I must disclose any existing inventions or ideas to the company now and that anything not enumerated belongs to them and that by not listing I am acknowledging that the invention idea was not developed or conceived before the commencement of employment.

Assuming I were to sign and return without enumerating any specifics they would own the IP to anything I've done previous to this?

I'd love any advice anyone here has, but perhaps a better question would be-- Are there any "uber for lawyers" services online where I can pay to have someone with bonafides read through this for me?

Re: Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive

#4

Find an employment attorney. Pay that person for an hour or two to read the contract for you. They will be able to offer much better advice than HN.

This is the correct answer.

I worked at a company that was acquired earlier this year and I didn't care for the new employment contract. Unfortunately, the sale was contingent on a certain percentage of the team signing the new employment contract. I had a lawyer look at the whole thing and he told me that because of the way the deal was worded I could sign and quit without affecting things.

I looked at the contracts a ton myself and basically made no sense of it. The lawyer spent a couple hours and it was a big help.

Re: Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive

#7

Find an employment attorney. Pay that person for an hour or two to read the contract for you. They will be able to offer much better advice than HN.

Whats the best way to go about finding one on short notice in a generic major city?

Re: Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive

#8

Find an employment attorney. Pay that person for an hour or two to read the contract for you. They will be able to offer much better advice than HN.

Whats the best way to go about finding one on short notice in a generic major city?

If you're in California I can give you a recommendation (I have no affiliation with him aside from hiring him in the past). I don't know of a general way of finding a lawyer on short notice.

Re: Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive

#9

Find an employment attorney. Pay that person for an hour or two to read the contract for you. They will be able to offer much better advice than HN.

Had a friend mention he was going to do this on a job interview and the company he was talking to almost immediately cut him a settlement check to keep him from doing it and to just make him go away.

Don't ever assume something a company is doing is on the up-and-up.

Re: Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive

#10
Assuming you do get a 'reasonably priced' lawyer in this situation, how confident can you be in the answer? Put another way, if @ExhibitAClause2 were to end up in court how much would the outcome depend on the quality of lawyer arsenal at his disposal versus BigCo?

I ask because there are countless scenarios when an attorney clears something and an expensive lawsuit still occurs, e.g. patent trolls.

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