https://lists.sfconservancy.org/pipermail/contractpatch/2018...
Software Freedom Conservancy reminded me that everything is negotiable:
I was thinking along the lines of "Hey, I periodically do volunteer work for various charities, and I think this clause could hurt them. Could we add in that work not directly assigned to me and is related to a non-profit / charity is excluded from this clause?"
That way, if anything comes up, you could turn over copyright to the FSF or similar organization and you would be covered.
Thank you for your answer. Could you please elaborate on this one? What does the exclusive license entails? Do you get ownership back when the time expires?
When the exclusive period is up, that doesn't mean the license is inoperative, only that I am free to license it to others as well.
Note that when I say "I" here, I really mean my attorney. These sorts of things can be tricky, and I am no lawyer. Also, it's very hard to make this sort of thing foolproof -- if an employer wants to screw me, there are a few ways that they could.
Seriously? Did you not read the contract?
Most contracts specifically say that the work has to be RELATED to whatever you're doing at your day job. Blanket "we own everything" statements should never be accepted, ever.
That's a value judgment that others might not share.
Also, that's easy to say if you have a steady, secure job that pays well. But if you don't, and you need a job else you might not make your next rent payment, maybe you can't be so picky.
Same deal if all the desirable jobs in your area have clauses like that and you can't or don't want to move.
Yes. Early in my career, I had been in this situation a couple of times. What I did then (and would do again) is to suspend any work on such private projects entirely until I can find a job with a more reasonable employer.
Italy for example has a blanket "we own everything" statement on the standard collective contract, and to work around that you need to write an agreement and sign it on the side (not on the main contract) or it won't stick in court because all clause against the collective contract are considered vexatious by default and require special care
Entirely this.
I got burned by this years ago, developing side project that was completely unrelated to the sort of work my employer did, and was not developed using any company resources. But my employment contract specified that my employer had first rights to anything I developed at all during the term of my employment.
From that time on, whenever I'm negotiating a new employment contract, I make sure that any such clause is omitted from it. I've never had an employer completely balk at that, although some have negotiated a middle ground where they get first rights to a time-limited exclusive license to any side project I do that does overlap with their activities.
This sort of thing is why I advise people to actually read and understand employment (and all other) contracts before signing, and to not be shy about requesting changes to them if the terms aren't acceptable.
Also, don't listen to verbal assurances like "that's just boilerplate, we never actually enforce that". That may or may not be true at the moment, but there's no guarantee it will remain true over time. When the rubber meets the road, what the contract says is what will happen.