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If you sign an employee agreement that says, "we own all of IP you produce past, present and future," then it's obviously enforceable, right?
by pyre 14y ago
If you sign an employee agreement that says, "we own all of IP you produce past, present and future," then it's obviously enforceable, right?
- sp332 14y agoThat's actually much more enforceable than a drive-by EULA.
- rhizome 14y agoAre you sure about that?
- sp332 14y agoYeah, because you would actually read & physically sign an employment agreement, and that agreement actually has some bearing on how you relate to your job. OTOH an EULA is not read by most people, and their enforceability has been challenged in court. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_license_agreement#Enforceability_of_EULAs_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_license_agreement#Enf...
- rhizome 14y agoYou can't sign your rights away, and "we own all of IP you produce past, present and future," is a forsaking of rights that would naturally be exercisable by the person signing the contract. Employment agreements are also subject to contract law concepts such as consideration[1], which would come into play when someone stops and asks "what's in it for me?" A single job as described at the beginning of the relationship through the employment agreement is probably not going to be seen as valuable enough for someone to have legitimately signed away his future productivity. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration
- sp332 14y agoYour interpretation of "consideration" is, according to the article you linked, the minority position. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration#Monetary_value_of_consideration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration#Monetary_value_o... I'm not sure what you mean by "you can't sign your rights away". IP is of course transferable.
- rhizome 14y agoIP is of course transferable. Not without a signature on a document itemizing the IP being transferred.
- 6d0debc071 14y agoDo you actually know - and have the appropriate backing from precedent - or are you just guessing? One thing I've found out about contract law is that it doesn't look anything like you'd think it does just from reading the things you sign, so it seems to me that it's very easy to make mistakes in this area without realising them if you just sort of read it in a tourist-y fashion from time to time.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]