GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects using company resources

Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by throwaway7558 on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @10:13AM (#13922325)

I agree--this is excellent and very tech-talent-friendly. As an example on the other side of the spectrum: I work for a very large Silicon Valley company that is well known (you've heard of them) for secrecy and obsessively guarding its IP. Here we can't[1] work on Open Source, work on potential start-up ideas, moonlight writing software for some extra cash, publish (either academically or releasing software online, app stores or web), or really do anything substantial regarding software outside of work. On personal time, weekends, on our own equipment, doesn't matter. It's a serious drawback, to the point where I've been actively looking around. I'm certain this will have an extremely positive effect on GitHub's attractiveness as an employer.

1: Technically, the policy is "ask your manager" but everyone knows what the answer is.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by vonmoltke on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @10:31AM (#13922468)

At least your policy is limited to software-related things. I need to ask permission to start a side gig selling shit on eBay, submit a fiction story to a writing contest, or even volunteer for mentoring/tutoring sessions (on any topic).

I didn't know the full extent before I started, but they threw more money at me than my wife and I have ever made combined, so I probably would have still taken it if I had known. Plus, I'm in NYC now.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by linkregister on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @01:25PM (#13924289)

California state law invalidates the non-compete portion of your contract, so long as you develop your solution on your own time and without company-owned resources.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by ScottBurson on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @05:32PM (#13926461)

You've omitted the third requirement, which is the nasty one: your outside project must not relate to the actual or reasonably anticipated R&D of the company.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by aquabib on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @01:16PM (#13924189)

Why did you sign the contract in the first place?

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by BuuQu9hu on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @11:12AM (#13922869)

Your employer, of course, is Google; I know this from my own tussles with Google's OSPO, which exists primarily to ensure that engineers don't have lives outside of Google.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by rrdharan on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @12:09PM (#13923535)

[Disclaimer: I work at Google.]

I see no conclusive evidence in the parent comment that proves it's Google. I would've actually guessed Apple.

My understanding is that Google actually has a reasonable process for this, and that people have taken advantage of it to start or contribute to projects in a personal capacity.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by jboggan on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @01:42PM (#13924442)

Probably not Google, they do have a process for open source contributions though it is pretty expansive - technically you need approval for answering a Stack Overflow question with a code snippet.

They do approve side projects in rarer cases where it has nothing to do with Google's business - for example, my friend recently wrote an app for sex positions. But most things that I want to work on have a messaging / ML / AR component to them somewhere so I haven't felt comfortable building anything while I've been employed there. Hence the main reason I'm leaving Google at the end of the month, to build those things :)

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by myelin on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @04:46PM (#13926066)

I work at Google, and can confirm that the process for open source contributions (as long as you're okay with assigning copyright for the work to Google) isn't particularly onerous in most cases. You just have to verify that the project has a valid open source license, and send in a copy of your first three commits.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by cowsandmilk on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @01:35PM (#13924382)

it sounds the most like Apple except for the open source part. There are a limited set of licenses they allow, but many employees at Apple contribute to open source software, both at work and in their free time.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by brlewis on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @12:49PM (#13923951)

I haven't worked at Google since 2013, but I knew this wasn't Google because Googlers do contribute to Open Source.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by amyjess on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @05:41PM (#13926530)

I would've guessed Apple because of the whole "secrecy and obsessively guarding its IP" thing.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by vonmoltke on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @12:09PM (#13923533)

I have not gone through them yet, but I get the feeling from the wording of our policies that our equivalent is similar.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by ScottBurson on Tuesday March 21, 2017 @05:29PM (#13926442)

My guess was Oracle; this sounds very consistent with what I've heard about them.

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Re:GitHub lets staff own IP developed for personal projects ... by siculars on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @01:58AM (#13928771)

Apple, definitely Apple.

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