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This is mostly a US thing. If I don't implement a DIRECT competitor to my company in my free time, the company can do absolutely nothing about it here. IF I imp

by akuji1993 7y ago

This is mostly a US thing. If I don't implement a DIRECT competitor to my company in my free time, the company can do absolutely nothing about it here. IF I implement a competitor and put it on the market, they can fire me. They can't however, sue me for the posession of the software. That's just a legal nightmare in the US.

pinkfoot 7y ago
Where is 'here'? Curious
- keiferski 7y ago
  Post history indicates Germany.
  - Xylakant 7y ago
    The situation in Germany about ownership of stuff you developed in your company or spare time is substantially more nuanced than the GGP post describes. Matters get even more complicated when remote work and trust based working hours (aka: no time tracking) gets in the mix. Add permission to work on OSS in your working hours: Was that code done on company time or not? There's an entire law about inventions made in your on and off time - the "Gesetz über Arbeitnehmererfindungen". It does cover inventions (patents or similar) that are related to your work, whether done during your work time or outside. (https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__4.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__4.html) The law stipulates compensation and there's a separate set of compensation guidelines that takes into account how related to your work this invention is. An employer can even claim right of first buy for inventions that are unrelated to the employees work (freie Erfindung), if the employer is active in the area of business that the invention covers (see https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__19.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__19.html) Mind you, this is by law. Many employment contracts will only mention this in passing or not at all. Now, most contributions to open source will not pass the bar to be an invention in the sense of the law. But if you come up with a novel solution for a hard problem, that might cross the boundaries.
- TrickyRick 7y ago
  Similar in Sweden, although most contracts allow for some compensation surrounding if you create a competing product without disclosing it.
  - x86_64Ubuntu 7y ago
    A competing product != Any and everything you code
    - TrickyRick 7y ago
      My point exactly, it needs to be in direct competition.
Random_ernest 7y ago
Assuming you mean germany? In germany your company can not sue you for ownership of the software, but they can sue for all the earnings you made with it. I was in a similar situation where I had an idea for a similar product the company I worked for was toying around but was not able to implement. In the end I quit, waited a few month and then implemented it, just to be sure.
noneeeed 7y ago
Yeah, my contract is similar. Anything that's somehow a direct competitor or related would be covered, but other projects would be just fine.

pinkfoot 7y ago

Where is 'here'? Curious

keiferski 7y ago
Post history indicates Germany.
- Xylakant 7y ago
  The situation in Germany about ownership of stuff you developed in your company or spare time is substantially more nuanced than the GGP post describes. Matters get even more complicated when remote work and trust based working hours (aka: no time tracking) gets in the mix. Add permission to work on OSS in your working hours: Was that code done on company time or not? There's an entire law about inventions made in your on and off time - the "Gesetz über Arbeitnehmererfindungen". It does cover inventions (patents or similar) that are related to your work, whether done during your work time or outside. (https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__4.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__4.html) The law stipulates compensation and there's a separate set of compensation guidelines that takes into account how related to your work this invention is. An employer can even claim right of first buy for inventions that are unrelated to the employees work (freie Erfindung), if the employer is active in the area of business that the invention covers (see https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__19.html https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/arbnerfg/__19.html) Mind you, this is by law. Many employment contracts will only mention this in passing or not at all. Now, most contributions to open source will not pass the bar to be an invention in the sense of the law. But if you come up with a novel solution for a hard problem, that might cross the boundaries.
TrickyRick 7y ago
Similar in Sweden, although most contracts allow for some compensation surrounding if you create a competing product without disclosing it.
- x86_64Ubuntu 7y ago
  A competing product != Any and everything you code
  - TrickyRick 7y ago
    My point exactly, it needs to be in direct competition.

Random_ernest 7y ago

Assuming you mean germany? In germany your company can not sue you for ownership of the software, but they can sue for all the earnings you made with it. I was in a similar situation where I had an idea for a similar product the company I worked for was toying around but was not able to implement. In the end I quit, waited a few month and then implemented it, just to be sure.

noneeeed 7y ago

Yeah, my contract is similar. Anything that's somehow a direct competitor or related would be covered, but other projects would be just fine.