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I worked for a Fortune 100 company whose backbone was intellectual property (involved in 100,000+ products) and as you might imagine, their view of what constit

I worked for a Fortune 100 company whose backbone was intellectual property (involved in 100,000+ products) and as you might imagine, their view of what constituted "intellectual property" and any reasonable human being's view were quite different. During onboarding someone asked about building a table and selling the plans and were told that "they would definitely need to talk to legal".

lowercased 8y ago
I've run in to places that wanted to pull "all your intellectual property belong to us", but I don't really think they really wanted this. I think they just want the right of first refusal. If I developed something illegal, then said "well... my employer owns it technically because I did this during working hours" they definitely would try to wriggle out of that IP.
- scarmig 8y ago
  Half the reason for these agreements is because they generally do want all your intellectual property: it means that there's less risk of one of their entrepreneurial employees quitting and starting a competitor, even in an ostensibly unrelated sector.
  - lowercased 8y ago
    I don't think they really want to be legally liable for everything I make outside work, even though they might say that.
- C1sc0cat 8y ago
  its "related to your job" not everything eg if your in a band at the weekend an say write your countries next Eurovision song that's not theirs
  - lowercased 8y ago
    "Employee agrees that any and all intellectual properties, including, but not limited to, all ideas, concepts, themes, inventions, designs, improvements and discoveries conceived, developed or written by Employee, either individually or jointly in collaboration with others during the term of this Agreement, shall belong to and be the sole and exclusive property of the Company." That's pretty broad. This doesn't even say "relating to your job", just "intellectual properties... conceived, developed or written by Employee... during the term of this Agreement".
    - C1sc0cat 8y ago
      That sounds like it wouldn't be upheld as to broad even in the worst US state.
movedx 8y ago
I started working a company with this kind of attitude. I had them not only adjust the contract to only protect their existing IP from theft by me, but also had the General Manager sign a letter stating I was able to continue working on my side business. Most businesses need you more than you need them. Choose wisely and negotiate.

lowercased 8y ago

I've run in to places that wanted to pull "all your intellectual property belong to us", but I don't really think they really wanted this. I think they just want the right of first refusal. If I developed something illegal, then said "well... my employer owns it technically because I did this during working hours" they definitely would try to wriggle out of that IP.

scarmig 8y ago
Half the reason for these agreements is because they generally do want all your intellectual property: it means that there's less risk of one of their entrepreneurial employees quitting and starting a competitor, even in an ostensibly unrelated sector.
- lowercased 8y ago
  I don't think they really want to be legally liable for everything I make outside work, even though they might say that.
C1sc0cat 8y ago
its "related to your job" not everything eg if your in a band at the weekend an say write your countries next Eurovision song that's not theirs
- lowercased 8y ago
  "Employee agrees that any and all intellectual properties, including, but not limited to, all ideas, concepts, themes, inventions, designs, improvements and discoveries conceived, developed or written by Employee, either individually or jointly in collaboration with others during the term of this Agreement, shall belong to and be the sole and exclusive property of the Company." That's pretty broad. This doesn't even say "relating to your job", just "intellectual properties... conceived, developed or written by Employee... during the term of this Agreement".
  - C1sc0cat 8y ago
    That sounds like it wouldn't be upheld as to broad even in the worst US state.

movedx 8y ago

I started working a company with this kind of attitude. I had them not only adjust the contract to only protect their existing IP from theft by me, but also had the General Manager sign a letter stating I was able to continue working on my side business. Most businesses need you more than you need them. Choose wisely and negotiate.