3 ms·

This probably works in the U.S.A. (or some of its states only, even), but prohibiting open-source work on the employee’s spare time is, to the best of my knowle

This probably works in the U.S.A. (or some of its states only, even), but prohibiting open-source work on the employee’s spare time is, to the best of my knowledge, illegal in most of Europe. Unless of course in the case of blatant conflict of interest between the open-source work and the product being worked on during company time. Contracts still include such clauses (mine does say that all intellectual property at any time during the validity of the contract is the property of the company), but no company in their right mind would go to court trying to enforce it.

karatinversion 6y ago
The article isn't 100% clear on this, but I got the impression this was the upstream driver for an IBM product (VNIC) that the guy worked on as part of his job, but listed his gmail address in the maintainers file... In which case, fair enough.
- Jiejeing 6y ago
  If they work on it as part of their job, then sure (although I find the tone of the email very unprofessional). But it would have made more sense to update the file with a linux.ibm.com address like the other maintainers, rather than delete it.
- airhead969 6y ago
  Hmm, that might be valid. Maybe he should ask to have it prioritized at work to contribute officially to avoid any corporate PHB conflicts?
- bombcar 6y ago
  My current kernel sources have: IBM Power SRIOV Virtual NIC Device Driver M: Dany Madden <drt@linux.ibm.com> M: Lijun Pan <ljp@linux.ibm.com> M: Sukadev Bhattiprolu <sukadev@linux.ibm.com> L: netdev@vger.kernel.org S: Supported F: drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/ibmvnic.* And so it looks like Lijun was asked to remove himself from the project (perhaps because he was reassigned at work or who knows why) and instead put himself with a gmail account, and then that was noticed and 'nice tried'.
LatteLazy 6y ago
Every professional job I've had here in the UK (admittedly we are little America...) required me to sign away all IP rights.
- Jiejeing 6y ago
  As I said, mine too, that does not mean it is in any way legal (and as most of my coworkers have FOSS projects of their own, I would like to see them try).
  - aleister_777 6y ago
    I believe the use of a contract and signatures in fact does literally make it legal, since that is the point of a contract. Everything depends on what you signed.
    - mnw21cam 6y ago
      A contract cannot override law. A prime example is the minimum wage laws - it is illegal for an employer to pay less than the minimum wage, and an employee can't sign a contract to make it actually alright after all.
    - Jiejeing 6y ago
      There are laws, and there are judgements which are the courts interpretation of the laws; a signed contract does not have the power to overturn either. It is the job of HR & Legal depts to make sure a contract is legally viable, not mine, and I happen to know my rights. There are at least 5 illegal clauses in my contract, and I am certainly keeping them close by if I need to go to court against them one day.
    - josefx 6y ago
      You could sign yourself into slavery, that doesn't make it legal.
- krona 6y ago
  I don't see how that is enforceable except in circumstances where the creative content of your work is in some way related to what the company is involved in (which can be expensive for a large for a multinational corp., admittedly) For example, the photographs of your family taken by yourself. Would you expect your employer to retain copyright?
logronoide 6y ago
In Spain your employee must pay for “after business hours” exclusivity in the monthly payroll. It must clearly state that every month the company pays for the exclusivity. It’s not enough with a contract saying you cannot work after your business hours, they must pay for it and they must proof they are paying it in the monthly payroll. Not sure in other countries, but probably in Western Europe and 100% sure in Spain even large corporations know it’s really hard to enforce contractual and post-contractual exclusivity, unless the employee breaks some IP of the employer. Still, it is always a good idea to tell your new employer that you are “moonlighting”.
- orthoxerox 6y ago
  Russia is even stricter: to transfer the IP from the employee to the company the company must first give the employee that specific task in writing. Even if you write something on company time and using company tools it's still yours, the company can just fire you for misusing their resources.
- 1-more 6y ago
  That honestly makes sense. A contract with no "consideration" is generally not enforceable in English common law, for instance.

karatinversion 6y ago

The article isn't 100% clear on this, but I got the impression this was the upstream driver for an IBM product (VNIC) that the guy worked on as part of his job, but listed his gmail address in the maintainers file... In which case, fair enough.

Jiejeing 6y ago
If they work on it as part of their job, then sure (although I find the tone of the email very unprofessional). But it would have made more sense to update the file with a linux.ibm.com address like the other maintainers, rather than delete it.
airhead969 6y ago
Hmm, that might be valid. Maybe he should ask to have it prioritized at work to contribute officially to avoid any corporate PHB conflicts?
bombcar 6y ago
My current kernel sources have: IBM Power SRIOV Virtual NIC Device Driver M: Dany Madden <drt@linux.ibm.com> M: Lijun Pan <ljp@linux.ibm.com> M: Sukadev Bhattiprolu <sukadev@linux.ibm.com> L: netdev@vger.kernel.org S: Supported F: drivers/net/ethernet/ibm/ibmvnic.* And so it looks like Lijun was asked to remove himself from the project (perhaps because he was reassigned at work or who knows why) and instead put himself with a gmail account, and then that was noticed and 'nice tried'.

LatteLazy 6y ago

Every professional job I've had here in the UK (admittedly we are little America...) required me to sign away all IP rights.

Jiejeing 6y ago
As I said, mine too, that does not mean it is in any way legal (and as most of my coworkers have FOSS projects of their own, I would like to see them try).
- aleister_777 6y ago
  I believe the use of a contract and signatures in fact does literally make it legal, since that is the point of a contract. Everything depends on what you signed.
  - mnw21cam 6y ago
    A contract cannot override law. A prime example is the minimum wage laws - it is illegal for an employer to pay less than the minimum wage, and an employee can't sign a contract to make it actually alright after all.
  - Jiejeing 6y ago
    There are laws, and there are judgements which are the courts interpretation of the laws; a signed contract does not have the power to overturn either. It is the job of HR & Legal depts to make sure a contract is legally viable, not mine, and I happen to know my rights. There are at least 5 illegal clauses in my contract, and I am certainly keeping them close by if I need to go to court against them one day.
  - josefx 6y ago
    You could sign yourself into slavery, that doesn't make it legal.
krona 6y ago
I don't see how that is enforceable except in circumstances where the creative content of your work is in some way related to what the company is involved in (which can be expensive for a large for a multinational corp., admittedly) For example, the photographs of your family taken by yourself. Would you expect your employer to retain copyright?

logronoide 6y ago

In Spain your employee must pay for “after business hours” exclusivity in the monthly payroll. It must clearly state that every month the company pays for the exclusivity. It’s not enough with a contract saying you cannot work after your business hours, they must pay for it and they must proof they are paying it in the monthly payroll. Not sure in other countries, but probably in Western Europe and 100% sure in Spain even large corporations know it’s really hard to enforce contractual and post-contractual exclusivity, unless the employee breaks some IP of the employer. Still, it is always a good idea to tell your new employer that you are “moonlighting”.

orthoxerox 6y ago
Russia is even stricter: to transfer the IP from the employee to the company the company must first give the employee that specific task in writing. Even if you write something on company time and using company tools it's still yours, the company can just fire you for misusing their resources.
1-more 6y ago
That honestly makes sense. A contract with no "consideration" is generally not enforceable in English common law, for instance.