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Googler here (though not a lawyer and I don't speak for the company). I agree that the OP's assessment that you quoted is incorrect in general, for the reasons
by haberman 14y ago
Googler here (though not a lawyer and I don't speak for the company). I agree that the OP's assessment that you quoted is incorrect in general, for the reasons you mentioned. The Google-internal process that OP is alluding to allows an employee to seek positive assurance from Google that the company will not attempt to claim ownership over the project. It's a way to get agreement up-front that both parties agree the project is unrelated to the business. You don't give up any rights by not going through the process, but you might discover later that Google believes the work is related to the business, and believes that it owns the IP.
However, there is another completely separate process that allows you to open-source your code while having Google retain copyright. It's much easier to get through (turnaround is just a few days) and lets you release the code under a permissive license like BSD or Apache2. I write a lot of open-source code on the side, and I've used this process to get approval for all of it. It makes no difference to me whether Google technically owns the copyright.
I would add that Google's open-source policies are a huge plus in my book. It's a night-and-day difference from Amazon where I used to work. Trying to get anything released as open-source at Amazon was like pulling teeth.
- cdibona 14y agoThanks for putting this up here :-) (I handle both processes) The copyright process usually takes around 6 weeks, but new open source projects can be released in days (and patches much faster)
- brlewis 14y agoThe open source thing I can understand. The part for non-open-source projects is hard for me as an outsider. I can't see how any employee can have a web-oriented side project that doesn't compete with some Google service. You have a social network, a blogging platform, photo sharing, video sharing, online music, PAAS, code hosting, etc., etc. What area are you not in?
- fpgeek 14y agoTo this outsider, your question sounds like exactly the reason Google needs this sort of process. Even if an employee were working in an area that was theoretically competitive with something, an official determination by Google should trump theoretical arguments - providing valuable certainty to both sides.
- brlewis 14y agoI can understand the need for the process; I just don't understand how Google ever decides it's OK.
- cdibona 14y agoWe have a small group from code of conduct/conflicts, open source, android and folks who represent a few other strategic groups at Google and we simply requests one by one. Most of the time it isn't a problem and we grant the request. Getting everyone together regularly can be a bit more difficult, that's why it takes longer.
- DannyBee 14y agoWe actually decide it's okay the vast majority of the time. (I can't give you exact stats, but i really do mean "vast majority")
- packetslave 14y agoSee also http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1970191 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1970191 for when cdibona talked about this before.