An anonymous poster 'The ABKCO Thieves' writes in about new hire paperwork.
I recently started work at a well-known e-commerce business, which is a great opportunity for me. Only after I started did I find out the full inventions, NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), non-poaching, and work-for-hire agreement is onerous. It treats any work of authorship during my employment as their property, even if done on my own time and equipment. I can't post the agreement because it would identify the company, and potentially me as well.
Earlier this year I began contributing code to a GPL v2 project that has existed for more than a decade. I want to continue to do so, but how can I without risking "contamination" of it thanks to this agreement? Part of my goal in contributing is to have real live code I can point to, so going under the radar defeats that purpose.
Are these sorts of intellectual property agreements common?
(Score: 2) by LaminatorX on Tuesday September 13 2016, @01:14PM
Worded that broadly, you'll need to get a license from the Legal department to get your own family photos printed, perform a song you wrote, send a letter-to-the-editor... hell they's own this SN story submission.
Negotiate the objectionable section to something reasonable that protects you both. If they won't budge, smile and play good-worker while looking for another job.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Tuesday September 13 2016, @02:24PM
Make a sandwich? The company owns it!
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @09:37AM
Make the bed?
Company now owns that too!
But what happens when I make a car payment??