Re:GitHaven, an open source clone of GitHub
by 32321215 on Sunday October 16, 2011 @06:55AM
(#3117059)
What is shocking to me is that if I were working in say the automobile industry and I make a highly customized bike, these kind of clause would mean that my employer owns all of that.
Some may argue since I have paid for the components and not the company that would save me, but to be fair the programmer paid for his/her laptop/desktop, servers (if any), maybe even some programming tools. Does having most of the stuff to make a side project come for free make me eligible for giving up my IP to my employer? This is just insane.
It's mainly an issue of copyright. The company wants to make sure it owns the IP to every line of code you write. For example, if you do some work on the weekend they want to make sure they own the copyright to that.
Every company I've worked for had a clause in my hiring contracts. Some will enforce it more than others.
Here's some in depth discussion: http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/19422/if-im-working-...