Wouldn't the adversary need a patent first to own a process? Code can be re-written, and I'd argue that it absolutely should be in such a case. And obviously,

Wouldn't the adversary need a patent first to own a process? Code can be re-written, and I'd argue that it absolutely should be in such a case. And obviously, using company resources for the side project is both idiotic and unethical. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the case where someone writes something entirely on his own time and gets sued because of a coves-all-hours contract that effectively placed him in indentured servitude (and that shouldn't be allowed to exist in the first place).