Are NDA 'Prior Inventions' Clauses Safe to Sign?

BenderMan asks: "I own a small consulting company. Today I was asked by yet another corporate customer to sign an NDA with the increasingly popular 'Prior Inventions' clause. The gist of it is they want you to provide a list of all your past and current inventions and/or ideas so they can define and protect the intellectual property that they have hired you to build. Like many of us that lay awake at night, whilst the hamster wheel spins new ideas, I've got a number of un-patented works in various stages of development. Given that mutual NDAs only provide one year of protection, I don't feel obligated, nor do I have sufficient time and energy, to fully and properly document my inventions for an NDA. While these clauses are written with good intentions, the reality is that these valuable ideas would be placed in the hands of people that could potentially profit with impunity (Have you priced patents lately?). Unfortunately many companies are not willing to strike this clause from their contracts. Does Slashdot agree that this is a concern, and how have you dealt with these situations?"

Comments

Re:Prior Art

[The Spoonman]

Only if you've managed your finances on the premise that you would never go a week (or *gasp* months) without a paycheck. It's called a rainy day fund. Your company has one. I have one. You should too. No one is responsible for your life except you.

What a decidedly republican thing to say. What happens when you're fired without any good reason, and then go nine months without a paycheck? Do you have a nine month rainy day fund? Think you won't have to go that long? How easy do you think it is to find a job when you have to explain to your next potential employer why you were fired, and the best answer you can come up with is "I wish I could tell you. I wasn't given a reason."? How are families supposed to take care of their kids medical needs when that happens and they lose their insurance? How 'bout those folks who have to go through this in the states where it's ok to fire blacks? Or gays? Or single mothers?

You know what, fuck you, I'm not going nice on this one. Rainy day funds are supposed to cover you, and provide for you, when some calamity strikes. Capricious whims of nature are one thing, but having people's lives determined by the innane flights of fancy of management are another. Why should *I* have to suffer because some senior manager decided that his bonus isn't going to be high enough this year, so he initiates a round of layoffs. Why should I have to deplete my rainy day fund because management sucked every salesman's dick until they drained every ounce of cash with exorbitant expense accounts? No one's asking for a handout, Rush. We're only asking to be treated fairly. That's supposed to be the premise behind "at will", anyway.