Slashdot Mirror
Attorney Yasir Billoo Explains NDA Law (Video)
Yasir Billoo, an attorney with Golden & Grimes in Miami, Florida, is licensed to practice law in both Florida and California, and works heavily in the areas of business/commercial law, employment and labor, and civil appeals. Yasir also has a business-oriented blog titled Small Business Law.
In this Slashdot video interview hosted by Timothy Lord, Yasir gives what is essentially a primer on the law behind Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and how they differ from Non-Competes. Sooner or later you're going to encounter -- or even write -- an NDA, and you'd better know the law behind what you're doing. Naturally, today's interview isn't specific legal advice about a particular situation. If you want that, you need to hire a lawyer to advise you. But Yasir (a long-time Slashdot reader. BTW) has shared enough knowledge in this interview that it will help you deal with many NDA situations on your own, and how to tell when you really should have a lawyer by your side.
In this Slashdot video interview hosted by Timothy Lord, Yasir gives what is essentially a primer on the law behind Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and how they differ from Non-Competes. Sooner or later you're going to encounter -- or even write -- an NDA, and you'd better know the law behind what you're doing. Naturally, today's interview isn't specific legal advice about a particular situation. If you want that, you need to hire a lawyer to advise you. But Yasir (a long-time Slashdot reader. BTW) has shared enough knowledge in this interview that it will help you deal with many NDA situations on your own, and how to tell when you really should have a lawyer by your side.
As long as I don't have to sign an NDA to watch the video ... :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
A video interview of Bennett Haselton conducted by Bennett Haselton.
Me for one. I refused until the "Sign it or Mcdonalds is hiring" speech.
Sooner or later you're going to encounter -- or even write -- an NDA,
Fuck off and die.
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Thank you for your interest in joining the Gay Wigger Association of DICE* (GayWAD)! GayWADs worldwide are happy that you'd like to become part of our
constantly enlarging member ship (come sail away 8====D~)
Unlike other geek fraternities that you might have heard about, GayWAD accepts members of all races, creeds, and colors. We don't even have a technical inclination requirement. As our founders stated in the Annals of GayWAD, Chapter 1: "You don't have to be a geek, as long as you like it Greek." They were, of course, referring to the penis in anus style of sexual relations. Don't despair, as attaining full fabulous lifetime status in GayWAD is easy. The only prerequisites for membership in Gay Wigger Association of DICE* are that you meet all of the following conditions:
To submit your Gay Wigger Association of DICE* Membership Application, simply do nothing. Congratulations, you're now a GayWAD!
If you require a specific membership number for purposes such as framing, docking, or prestigious inclusion upon your business cards and resume, please take down this number: 69.
Optionally, you may complete the following survey by replying to this post, indicating affirmative responses with an X in each appropriate box:
GayWAD Membership Survey (OPTIONAL)
[ ] I am gay
[ ] I am a wigger
[ ] I have used SLASHDOT BETA to find a sex partner
After completion of this optional survey, your Slashdot post ID shall serve as your unique Gay Wigger Association of DICE* membership ID.
Your GayWAD membership kit** is on its way.
* GayWAD is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by DICE.COM.
** GayWAD membership kit no longer includes HIV self-test catheter.
I appreciate the effort, but rule #1 for video is to get the audio right. You can watch a bad video, but bad sound can make an otherwise good video nearly unwatchable. The interviewer's use of an iPhone headset is far from optimum.
Place nail here >+
The NDAs that I've signed as function of interviewing for a job, e.g., typically only stipulate that I can't disclose anything that I learn about the companies intellectual property over the course of the interviewing process.
Some of the companies I've been employed by have required me to sign an Assignment of Inventions. Some were fairly broad, asserting that _any_ idea I had, on the clock or off, belonged to the company. Others were less broad.
And while IANAL, I do remember from the business law courses that I took during my undergrad studies that contracts are not enforceable when there's a great large difference in the bargaining power of the two parties. When you have a potential employer holding a job over your head telling you to sign or else, that's not an agreement between equals. I can't predict how any court is going to rule, but right off the bat I'd be willing to bet that if you were required to sign an overly broad Assignment of Inventions in order to get the job, there's a fair chance that it might not be enforceable. As always, consult an attorney.
Wow, a Slashdot video that I actually found useful, interesting, relevant to the site, and not a slashvertisement. A very pleasant surprise, and thanks to Yasir for his time and insight.
Timothy, though... c'mon, man... pay a few bucks for a backdrop and a reasonable microphone and step up the game a little, rather than looking like a teenager hiding from your parents in your bedroom... even a few bucks for a laptop stand or a cheap video camera so we don't get the camera-is-sitting-on-my-desk-nasal-shot. Some reasonable lighting, etc., is step two. It's not hard.
#include "standard_disclaimer.h"
Guys, it's 2014 already. Where's the HTML 5 video?
In California (an employee friendly state) there are limitations on assignments. An agreement to assign ALL inventions won't work, and even a "anything in the company's line of business" won't fly if it's a large company with lots of unrelated activities. A "anything related to what we do at this facility" is probably legal. And, bear in mind that if you are an exempt employee (e.g. don't get overtime for more than 40 hrs/week), you are never "off the clock" unless there is a specific agreement to the contrary. If you design widget making machines at your desk, and you come up with a fabulous idea on widget making while standing in the shower at home, it probably belongs to the company. At the very least, even if you are non-exempt and off the clock, the employer may have a "shop-right" to the invention if anything belonging to the company (know-how, etc.) was used in its conception. You'd not need to assign it, but they'd essentially get a free license to practice the invention (which cannot be sold or transferred)
And many people will have recently had to execute a revised assignment agreement, because of the Supreme Court case about the subtle difference between "assign" and "agree to assign".
Most courts have held, by the way, that the "consideration" for executing the assignment agreement (which is a contract) can be "your continued employment".
And, the old practice of paying you a dollar cash for assigning the patent has gone away. The theory behind that one was that patent law required that the consideration for the assignment had to be tangible. Somewhere along the line, the rules (or their interpretation) changed, and the consideration no longer has to be tangible, and can be "what you were paid to come up with the invention in the first place". If you have left the job, and then they come looking for you to sign, you could play hardball (when you're still employed, they can legally say "sign or we'll terminate") but I suspect that if they sued, you'd lose and be compelled to sign.
Given the number of people who read Slashdot using old browsers that dont do HTML5 video (like all those people stuck at work on Intercrap Explorer 6) Flash seems like the better choice here.
Division by 0 error at 'Flash seems like the better choice".
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
That is not a valid use case to trump adopting new standards. Especially for a tech site. No work place stuck on internet explorer 6 because of intranet applications should be allowing you to use that same browser to access the general world wide web. I've worked for a range of places as a consultant over the last year, and the oldest in use is IE9 (windows 7). I have a friend still stuck on XP and so they have IE8; but that is clearly a massive mistake these days to be using that computer in the net.