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It says.... any and all work created by me... while employed... will be owned by XXX company.... Is that the clause I should be looking at? It doesn't seem lik
by nobuwa 17y ago
It says.... any and all work created by me... while employed... will be owned by XXX company....
Is that the clause I should be looking at? It doesn't seem like there are any explicit exceptions to this written into the contract.
- rpledge 17y agoI'd recommend you talk to a lawyer that is familiar with employment contract law in your area. My experience has been that companies will put unenforcable restrictions in contracts because they know 99% of people will never check if the restriction can be enforced. It doesn't cost the company anything to add the clause but they benifit from it anyway.
- nobuwa 17y agoyeah, that was the main gist of my question: What makes such a clause enforceable or unenforceable? Is that speaking in terms of legality, or that it's simply impractical to do so? I would really like to hear from some other HNers on this: Are you already well aware of the ramifications of the contract you signed before you begin work on side projects, (and maybe even demanded changes to a contract before you signed) or do you forge ahead w/ the knowledge that the "any and all" clause (or whatever) is unenforceable? - this assumes you are not violating any non-competes -it's just a question of IP..... It seems unlikely to me that every engineer w/ side projects hires a lawyer to go through his/her employment contract before they sign it.... What's best practice when dealing w/ a contract both before you sign it?