Worrying About Employment Contracts?

An anonymous reader wonders: "I was preparing to accept a software developer job at a California company and was put off by the contract which claimed ownership of any ideas I create (on my own time or at the company) during my stay at the company and required me to inform them of any ideas (related to the company or not) during my employment and for a year afterwards. I've found references to a couple of instances where this became a legal problem for the developer. Is this something to worry about?"

Re:Yes.

[Cyberax]

I also suggest BOFH method: "No, mine was sent as an electronic document, so I just cut out the clauses I didn't like, added a couple of my own, printed two copies and signed them. Then your guy signed them too - probably without checking. Or maybe he liked the idea of clause F.3 that I'm allowed to call Managers... 'knobface'."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/29/bofh_2004_ episode_24/ [theregister.co.uk]

I turned this around once.

[marcus]

I was once handed a contract with a particularly abusive set of IP stipulations. Basically I swapped out all the references to employee and employer so that it said I would own the IP of all inventions of the company whether or not they were invented while I was at work, etc. and handed it back. He didn't flinch. He just looked at me sort of funny and took out the whole paragraph.

Ended up not working for that company, but that was because I'd gotten a better offer elsewhere.

Go ahead

[ATestR]

Sure, go ahead and sign their contact. Then, be sure to weekly advise your new employer about a great new idea you have for [[anti-gravity device],[perpetual motion machine],[modern day Kama Sutra], ...].

Re:Contracts are what the parties involve agree on

[onion2k]

No, no, no. If they refuse to remove the clause you should still accept the job, and then proceed to do what the contract states: "inform them of any ideas (related to the company or not)". Every single one. Written up in company time with a full explanation. They can have your idea for a hover toilet, or pajamas for sheep*, or a hyperdimensional toothbrush, or .. well you get the idea. Well, they do. I doubt you'd get much work done though.

The best bit is that even if they fire you for doing no real work, you can still bill them for a year afterwards. After all, a contract that requires you to work on their behalf wouldn't be fair if they didn't pay you for your time.

* This one probably exists already. Sorry boss!