5 ms·
This thing seems stupid to me. Am I required to disclose such a restriction from a previous employer? I say no, since it's common in the industry and a prospect
by yborg 9y ago
This thing seems stupid to me. Am I required to disclose such a restriction from a previous employer? I say no, since it's common in the industry and a prospective employer would be expected to either ask for disclosure or know it may exist. So now my inventions (assigned to my new employer by a similar boilerplate clause) are in violation of the previous agreement and if a legal dispute arises, they will now sue my current employer, who knowingly employed me despite this IP assignment and is in willful violation of the "previous employer's IP."
I've never once been asked if a previous IP assignment agreement of this sort is in force when taking a new position.
- zekevermillion 9y agoThe disclosure of prior agreements is to YOUR benefit as the employee / contractor. A lot of employers treat this as sort of a nod nod, wink wink situation, where they know you have prior conflicting agreements and would rather not hear about them -- b/c proving knowledge of the prior restriction is an element of tortious interference, by which a former employer can go after the next one for the employee's violation of the old restrictive covenants. As the employee, by disclosing the prior restrictions, you may insulate yourself to some extent against claims by your new employer if there's a 3-way dispute. Yes, restrictive covenants are heavily abused and I wish we didn't use them so widely. But if you're asked to sign one, there are normal areas to negotiate -- but refusing to sign at all will prevent you from advancing very far in the proprietary software industry.
- ghaff 9y agoI have never been asked about IP assignment (and haven't really been in a situation where it would come up). But I've actually been asked about non-competes. (By a small firm which would have absolutely walked away if I had one.)