Re:Engineer refusing to file/disclose patents
by zachr on Sunday March 24, 2019 @04:46PM
(#19478662)
Has an employment lawyer vetted this approach? I suspect that's not really effective...
Re:Engineer refusing to file/disclose patents
by gizmo686 on Sunday March 24, 2019 @05:57PM
(#19479018)
What approach? Negotiating a contract before signing it. The only potential problem I see is that is that he didn't say that he had a representative from the company also initial the modification, and doesn't necessarily have a paper trail documenting that he informed them of the modification.
Re:Engineer refusing to file/disclose patents
by jeremysalwen on Wednesday March 27, 2019 @11:22AM
(#19501768)
I do have an email trail in one case, but the other case was only over the phone.
Re:Engineer refusing to file/disclose patents
by kerng on Sunday March 24, 2019 @05:19PM
(#19478837)
One of my employers even had a process in place where you submit things you do off work or plan todo and you can officially get these approved before signing, like running a side business, etc. Its a contract, so its negotiable. HR likes to create the impression it's a static document, but it's not. Future employees have a lot of underleveraged negotiation powers, especially at large companies I think.
I have worked at two FANG companies, and in both cases I crossed off this clause from the contract and initialed the line before I signed it. I told them that I couldn't sign that line and what I did, and in both cases, they said they would "get back to me" with what legal said. In both cases it never came up again, and I started working having signed only the modified contract.
I think that's a fair comprise of who owns what, and I would suggest anyone else to do the same thing I did.