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Remember that you aren't trying to convince a bunch of HN readers - you are trying to convince a judge (who thinks computers are magic boxes) If your day job i
by kjhghjkjh 16y ago
Remember that you aren't trying to convince a bunch of HN readers - you are trying to convince a judge (who thinks computers are magic boxes)
If your day job is Oracle DBA and your startup is iPhone apps or web design that still equals the same "computer stuff" to a judge.
- bigiain 16y agoI'm pretty sure Oracle is a good example of a company that makes you agree that they own everything you think of while employed by them. A friend of mine became an Oracle employee when the company he worked for got acquired, and ended up needing to get approval from a long way up the org chart to be able to continue doing his phd, since the university had existing claims on ip in his phd research. For quite a long time he described himself as " technically not being allowed to think anything..."
- kjhghjkjh 16y agoIt's not oracle specificaly it's that if you are say a structural ironworker during the day and make bronze sculptures as a hobby then a judge will understand they are different. But they might not understand that being a sysadmin is as different to being a web designer in the evening.
- bigiain 16y agoSorry, I should have been more clear. As I understand it, Oracle's standard employment agreement includes language saying you agree that Oracle owns every idea you have while employed by them, whether on "paid hours" or not, whether related to databases or software in general or not - if you're a database engineer for Oracle and you invent a better tap washer, Oracle seem to think they'll own your plumbing related invention. There's workarounds for at least limited exceptions to that standard rule, but it's apparently unusual and required signoff at many levels above the typical workers management.