231–240 of 339 posts
Generally these kinds of clauses should be viewed as red flags. I had one contract that was something like "We reserve the right to buy all IP from anything you work on while employed here for $1". I got it removed before joining but looking back it was one of the most toxic placed I'd ever worked and this was just one of a number of red flags.
* "Ask HN: What should early startup Employee Agreements require, and not?" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26016445
If some founder wants to figure out how to do employee agreements better, they could be more equitable, and be more appealing than the scary FAANG document a hiring candidate is comparing it to.
I worked for a company once that had this sort of "we own everything" IP clause. They tried to get me to sign it after I had already started. I crossed out that part, initialed the change, and sent it back unsigned. Ended up going back and forth a few times, and then it got dropped behind a desk or something and we all forgot about it. Not surprisingly, I suppose, that company turned out to be a bit of a mess for oth…
I also worked for a company with an objectionable IP clause, and because of their general state of disorganisation I didn't actually receive a copy of the contract until after I had been working there for a few weeks. While discussing my options with friends and colleagues, I was given the ridiculous advice that I was already bound by the contract just by showing up and that signing it wouldn't make a difference. For…
"Then what's the point of me signing it? Are you going to fire me because of something which makes no difference?"
This thing has been bugging me the first time signed an employment contract years ago. So from what I understand is that everything I do on conpany property (that includes coding in a pub but on the company laptop) belongs to the company. So what I do is to first code it (any new idea that I'm working on) at home on my personal setup (including cloud an all). Then I release everything on a Apache V2 + MIT combo with…
There’s probably an ocean of open source that is in a work product gray area, and the companies just don’t care enough to do anything (think “I saw Alex working on a 2D physics game library after successfully deploying our latest healthcare platform feature. It will be of no use to us, and Alex is a good dev, let’s let it slide.”)
A lot of copyright infringement goes un-acted on because it just doesn’t matter to the rights holders. But if they’re in a jurisdiction where they can enforce their work product agreement and then management changes, a new greedier manager might decide to claim Alex’s 2D physics engine on the almost-zero chance it becomes useful to them in the future. Probably not the smartest move, possibly a totally legal move. (But what do I know, IANAL)
This thing has been bugging me the first time signed an employment contract years ago. So from what I understand is that everything I do on conpany property (that includes coding in a pub but on the company laptop) belongs to the company. So what I do is to first code it (any new idea that I'm working on) at home on my personal setup (including cloud an all). Then I release everything on a Apache V2 + MIT combo with…
i work for an open source (AGPL) company, that uses one of my open source (MIT) projects as a core dependency. before i joined, i made sure that any code i write for my library continues to be MIT-licensed, no matter when and where i am writing it. additional code i write for the company also often starts out as a demo/PoC in my MIT repo, but is then adapted and extended into our AGPL codebase.
this, however, is likely a different arrangement than what you're describing as a loophole.
This thing has been bugging me the first time signed an employment contract years ago. So from what I understand is that everything I do on conpany property (that includes coding in a pub but on the company laptop) belongs to the company. So what I do is to first code it (any new idea that I'm working on) at home on my personal setup (including cloud an all). Then I release everything on a Apache V2 + MIT combo with…
This thing has been bugging me the first time signed an employment contract years ago. So from what I understand is that everything I do on conpany property (that includes coding in a pub but on the company laptop) belongs to the company. So what I do is to first code it (any new idea that I'm working on) at home on my personal setup (including cloud an all). Then I release everything on a Apache V2 + MIT combo with…
It makes sense that the employer (or contractee) can claim that all work, done on their paid time, or on their equipment, is theirs.
i.e., if I use my employers' laptop to develop OS software, and they can prove it, then they have a strong (and, basically, legit) claim on my work. Same with time that I'm being paid for, and supposed to be doing work for them.
That's one reason why I brought my own personal laptop, many years ago, instead of using my employers' computer for my personal stuff.
I'm not sure, but it may not even be required to be in the employment contract. I think that basic employment laws may enforce that.
The "shower clause," on the other hand, says that all work and ideas that occur during your term of employment, belong to the company; regardless of whether or not it occurred on their paid time, or using their equipment.
i.e., if you come up with an idea for a great Web site, while out on a date, or while taking a shower; whether or not it has anything to do with the corporation, the corporation can lay claim to it.
It's pretty damn evil.
This thing has been bugging me the first time signed an employment contract years ago. So from what I understand is that everything I do on conpany property (that includes coding in a pub but on the company laptop) belongs to the company. So what I do is to first code it (any new idea that I'm working on) at home on my personal setup (including cloud an all). Then I release everything on a Apache V2 + MIT combo with…
As a side note: I don't publish anything. My wife on the other hand does. It's been like that for over 10 years now.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that I ended up doing this after a previous employer wanted to grab a load of VBA modules. Big pain the back side. My luck was that my wife actually did work with me on them. Saved my back side big time.