Re: [PLUG] intellectual property, code, employment laws, etc

[Jeff Abrahamson <jeff@purple.com>]

On Tue, Jan 07, 2003 at 08:56:28PM -0800, Marc Zucchelli wrote:
> Section 8 is what I'm worried about.
> 
> 8.  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Employee/Subcontracor,
> without demand, will disclose promptly to Employer,
> all inventions, discoveries and improvements relating
> to any work to which Employee/Subcontractor is
> assigned by Employer, or relating to any product or
> process used or contemplated by Employer or any
> affiliated company which Employee shall conceive or
> make either alone or jointly, at any time during the
> period of his employment, whether or not concieved or
> made with ther assistance of information, equipment or
> material furnished by Employer.  All such ideas,
> inventions, discoveries or improvements concieved or
> made during Employee's employment/Contract, shall
> belong solely and exclusively to employer and
> employee/Subcontractor shall assin all of his rights,
> title and interest, including property rights, in and
> to such idea, invention, discovery or improvement, to
> Employer.
> 
> 
> What I do is web applicaiton development, either for
> the company, or for the companies clients.  Alot of
> times there is electronic commerce involved.  This
> contract worries me because, what if I have another
> client of my own who needs say a shopping cart
> written, is this going to belong to my employer since
> I signed the contract even though I wrote it for my
> own client just because it is "code", or even more so
> because it's a shopping cart, and I've done shopping
> carts for the company.  Or what if I use similiar
> coding techniques/infrastructures that I have grown
> accustomed to through my own maturity.  Or say I start
> my own services based business based on a web
> application, does the money I make belong to my
> employer now?

Don't ask programmers for legal advice. Don't ask lawyers how to
program. The right tool for the right job.

That said, my read is that yes, you probably signed away rights to
everything you do during your employ with them, whether or not it was
for them.

-- 
 Jeff

 Jeff Abrahamson  <http://www.purple.com/jeff/>
 GPG fingerprint: 1A1A BA95 D082 A558 A276  63C6 16BF 8C4C 0D1D AE4B

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