>Can't work on it because of corporate ip ownership and all that nonsense. Is this an American thing? I'd understand that being an issue if you were using comp

>Can't work on it because of corporate ip ownership and all that nonsense. Is this an American thing? I'd understand that being an issue if you were using company provided equipment, doing it on company time, or creating a competitor. But if you're just doing a side project in your own time on your own computer, how can your employer assert any sort of ownership over that?