Under Employee Inventions of some code in California in Article 3.5, Section 2870
(a) Any provision in a employee agreement which provides that an employee shall assign, or offer to assign, any of his or her rights in an invention to his or her employer shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information except for those inventions that either:
(1) Relate at time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the employer's business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the employer.
(2) Result from any work performed by the employee for the employer.
(b) To the extent a provision in an employment agreement purports to require an employee to assign an invention otherwise excluded from being required to be assigned under subdivision (a), the provision is against the public policy of this state and is unenforceable.
I guess this means that this particular company can't take IP that is in no conceivable way related to their business or your employment there. Furthermore, the issue that is company and yourself are haggling over is silly. It's simply unenforcable. Let them think they own your IP, do what you want with it after you get hired, let them try to fire and sue you. You'll get your IP, and a nice settlement for a wrongful termination or something like that.
Point being, don't worry about it. The company's lawyers are either idiots or is hoping you are.
This can be quite a useful tool but I fear that it will have to be somewhat limited in its feature set. Such a platform independent tool will need to cater to the lowest common denominator in much the same way that Java must. For example, how do you provide for Windows Registry entries in *nix?
Also, the executables that would get distributed will likely be tailored to its host platform. Many programs will utilize the differences between these platforms. Again, I bring up the example of the Windows Registry. Many applications in Windows depend upon the installer setting up Registry keys that are accessed by the executable. How do you rectify this in *nix? Or the MacOS? Or with the ever growing number of embedded apps?
I'm afraid that program placement, management, configuration, etc. hits so close to the core of what makes a platform that this project will be difficult to complete (and be useful).
Here's a metric we can use to see if ever succeeds: Will developers throw away InstallShield and rpm to use this?
I wonder if, after throwing away all fan mail and reducing 12 year olds to tears, he throws away the royalty checks he's still raking in off being in three of the top selling movies of all time. And it also seems interesting that he wanted Obi-Wan dead when it wasn't anywhere near certain that there would be two sequels when the first film was made. This guy just seems way too bitter and weird for someone of his stature.
Slashdot Mirror
(a) Any provision in a employee agreement which provides that an employee shall assign, or offer to assign, any of his or her rights in an invention to his or her employer shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information except for those inventions that either:
(1) Relate at time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the employer's business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the employer.
(2) Result from any work performed by the employee for the employer.
(b) To the extent a provision in an employment agreement purports to require an employee to assign an invention otherwise excluded from being required to be assigned under subdivision (a), the provision is against the public policy of this state and is unenforceable.
I guess this means that this particular company can't take IP that is in no conceivable way related to their business or your employment there. Furthermore, the issue that is company and yourself are haggling over is silly. It's simply unenforcable. Let them think they own your IP, do what you want with it after you get hired, let them try to fire and sue you. You'll get your IP, and a nice settlement for a wrongful termination or something like that.
Point being, don't worry about it. The company's lawyers are either idiots or is hoping you are.
Also, the executables that would get distributed will likely be tailored to its host platform. Many programs will utilize the differences between these platforms. Again, I bring up the example of the Windows Registry. Many applications in Windows depend upon the installer setting up Registry keys that are accessed by the executable. How do you rectify this in *nix? Or the MacOS? Or with the ever growing number of embedded apps?
I'm afraid that program placement, management, configuration, etc. hits so close to the core of what makes a platform that this project will be difficult to complete (and be useful).
Here's a metric we can use to see if ever succeeds: Will developers throw away InstallShield and rpm to use this?
I wonder if, after throwing away all fan mail and reducing 12 year olds to tears, he throws away the royalty checks he's still raking in off being in three of the top selling movies of all time. And it also seems interesting that he wanted Obi-Wan dead when it wasn't anywhere near certain that there would be two sequels when the first film was made. This guy just seems way too bitter and weird for someone of his stature.