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It is not obvious such contracts are legal without any form of compensation. E.g. some company have a clause where if you invent something in your free time the
by jeltz 6y ago
It is not obvious such contracts are legal without any form of compensation. E.g. some company have a clause where if you invent something in your free time they can choose to buy the invention from you at a fixed price determined by the contract, and that is legal. But it is not as clear that just getting all intellectual property without any extra compensation is legal. A contract need to be quid pro quo, and in addition to that local employment law can contain limitations.
- trutannus 6y ago> just getting all intellectual property without any extra compensation is legal Generally it's not legal. Under Canadian contract law at least you need to offer some compensation for a specific clause in the contract that involves transfer. That's also why you see stories like "she purchased the IP off Nortel for $1". Makes it harder to call foul later. Not a lawyer, but this is how it's been explained to me.
- fractionalhare 6y agoSee also: one-time bonuses for developing patents and assigning them to your company.
- bradleyjg 6y agoAs a matter of general Anglo-American contract law it’s true that a contract needs to have consideration (i.e. something for each side) but each clause in a contract doesn’t. So if you are being paid to work then that’s sufficient consideration for all the employment terms. There doesn’t need to be identified additional compensation for each requirement the employer imposes.