Pretty sure I will be asking a lawyer, but I want to learn more words and concepts first.

A possible new job wants to own any intellectual property I create and wants me to declare anything I want to keep as my own. This seems normal in my industry as they will be paying me to do some thinking.

Issue is that I have a number of ideas I have been developing. I am going to float some of them as products in my own time, though this may be years from now. Most of these are outside the current market for the company as far as I know.

How is this typically handled? I presume I don’t need to have copyrights or trademarks prior and can just list tentative titles.

I am also a little unclear on the spread between “intellectual property” and “an idea I am playing with”.

Thoughts? Concepts to investigate?

Edit: I did Internet search this, but I have not found working keywords.

  • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    NAL, but have heard of these. Amazon was really bad about it a few years ago.

    General rule, anything you do on company time/devices/premises is theirs. That is enforceable for sure, and it’s provable.

    Anything you do in your own time is generally unenforceable, unless you still code/materials or something from them. Caveat being that it can’t conflict with your work. i.e. if you work for Expedia and start a new travel company you may be in an enforceable grey area, “They stole company secrets to compete with us”. However if you work for a game company and make your own game, you’re probably fine.

    Read your contract, know it upside down and sideways, that’s going to be the guiding principal.

  • grabyourmotherskeys@lemmy.world
    1·
    10 months ago

    I have signed several of these. If you do it on company time or with company resources, it’s theirs. If you do it on your own time with your own stuff, it’s yours.

    You may or may not be shocked to learn how many “personal projects” get done when people are supposed to be doing the work they get paid for or with resources they are effectively stealing from their employer. This isn’t some evil corporate attempt to steal your brilliant work. They are trying to make sure that when you are at work using their stuff you are doing your actual job.

    If you have your own things you want to pitch as products you will be giving over the rights to that the minute you work on it on company time with company resources.

    If your ideas are good, save money, quit, start a start up, and use your connections to make a good deal with them (sell it to them). Or wait until you are a vested shareholder.

  • FaceDeer@kbin.social
    1·
    10 months ago

    I actually have a friend who’s involved in a situation like this right now. He got laid off from his old job a few months back and while he was job hunting he started working on a project with a couple other friends that could be worth a fair bit of money. He’s had job offers since then and he got a lawyer to write up a description of the project he’s working on that could be inserted into those “I’m keeping the rights to this stuff” contract sections.

    It’s a bit different for him because it’s stuff that he’s actively working on right now, though. It sounds like your case might be simpler, if it’s stuff you haven’t done yet and don’t plan to try working on while employed with this current employer I suspect you won’t need to worry about it. Though of course, IANAL.

  • HonkyTonkWoman@lemm.ee
    1·
    10 months ago

    If there are any ideas you want to make sure you protect upfront, write them down & mail them to yourself.

    Don’t open it when it comes back & you’ll have postmarked proof the idea was yours on the day you mailed the letter.

    That’s what they taught us film school in the early 2000’s anyways.

    • bradorsomething@ttrpg.network
      1·
      10 months ago

      You have to send it certified mail. Unopened, the document is considered as old as the postmarking. Often called a poor man’s copyright.