3 ms·

> If an idea is in my head, nobody else but me should should be able to control this idea. It's not quite that simple. What if that idea occurs as a result of

> If an idea is in my head, nobody else but me should should be able to control this idea. It's not quite that simple. What if that idea occurs as a result of work you've done for, or things you've learned from your, employer? Do they have NO claim to that, even if you decide to use it to compete against them?

oldandtired 8y ago
Do they have a claim? Maybe. But they do have a moral claim? This is the interesting area. From my perspective, they have no more claim over your use of any ideas that you may have picked up from your time with them as you can claim from them picking up your ideas from your time with them. All interactions are multi-way. No one person or group can really claim the high ground in these interactions as all parties are part of the interaction and in some way or another contribute to the idea generation process.
quantum_magpie 8y ago
>Do they have NO claim to that, even if you decide to use it to compete against them? Of course! The whole notion of a company owning every and all, things and thoughts, has to just die off. Everything outside the scope of the specific project is off-limits. Ideas that occur as a result of the work I've done and things I've learned are mine! Ideas that are a part of the work I do are theirs. A Square wheel, inc. tasks me with improvement on their design of Square wheel tech. I do that during my working hours, and I happily work on reducing the friction of the wheel. However, why would Square wheel, inc. have any claim to my novel idea of a vastly superior Round wheel tech that I thought up as I kicked a rock on a road? They didn't pay me to invent a new type of wheel, they asked me to improve their current one. I can choose to tell them the new idea, based on their sense of ethics and morals, i.e. whether I would receive a significant percentage of the proceeds, but the corporation has absolutely no entitlement to anything outside the scope. Well, should not have, since apparently the greedy crooks actually feel that they control everything and everyone and have to have everything.
ljw1001 8y ago
If you're in an enlightened state like CA, you may think things are not so bad. In MA, a low-level programmer working on, say, banking software, can be prevented for up to three years from working at another banking software company. Keep in mind, that experience is the prime driver of a person's ability to earn more money over time. I'm not talking about stealing secrets or brilliant insights. I'm talking about basic knowledge of how the banking industry works. Of course now I've seen news stories about fast-food workers having similar non-competes, so i guess it can always be worse.
ionised 8y ago
You learn things in every job you are in. You become more experienced. Do your employers have a right to all that too? That would be ridiculous.

oldandtired 8y ago

Do they have a claim? Maybe. But they do have a moral claim? This is the interesting area. From my perspective, they have no more claim over your use of any ideas that you may have picked up from your time with them as you can claim from them picking up your ideas from your time with them. All interactions are multi-way. No one person or group can really claim the high ground in these interactions as all parties are part of the interaction and in some way or another contribute to the idea generation process.

quantum_magpie 8y ago

>Do they have NO claim to that, even if you decide to use it to compete against them? Of course! The whole notion of a company owning every and all, things and thoughts, has to just die off. Everything outside the scope of the specific project is off-limits. Ideas that occur as a result of the work I've done and things I've learned are mine! Ideas that are a part of the work I do are theirs. A Square wheel, inc. tasks me with improvement on their design of Square wheel tech. I do that during my working hours, and I happily work on reducing the friction of the wheel. However, why would Square wheel, inc. have any claim to my novel idea of a vastly superior Round wheel tech that I thought up as I kicked a rock on a road? They didn't pay me to invent a new type of wheel, they asked me to improve their current one. I can choose to tell them the new idea, based on their sense of ethics and morals, i.e. whether I would receive a significant percentage of the proceeds, but the corporation has absolutely no entitlement to anything outside the scope. Well, should not have, since apparently the greedy crooks actually feel that they control everything and everyone and have to have everything.

ljw1001 8y ago

If you're in an enlightened state like CA, you may think things are not so bad. In MA, a low-level programmer working on, say, banking software, can be prevented for up to three years from working at another banking software company. Keep in mind, that experience is the prime driver of a person's ability to earn more money over time. I'm not talking about stealing secrets or brilliant insights. I'm talking about basic knowledge of how the banking industry works. Of course now I've seen news stories about fast-food workers having similar non-competes, so i guess it can always be worse.

ionised 8y ago

You learn things in every job you are in. You become more experienced. Do your employers have a right to all that too? That would be ridiculous.