I was working as a grad student (back in the day) for a Computer Science department for a major University. During that time, some friends and I created a couple of massively multiplayer web browser games ... and we made quite a bit of money doing it. We had formed our own company, but we did (initially) do a lot of the work on campus ... either in public computer labs or in dorm rooms. We eventually bought our own headquarters, and completed our first game (and created all of our second game) there. We didn't make a penny while we were working on it at the University.
So ... my question to all of the slashdot community would be ... did the University have rights to it?
I would say "not at all".
My grad work was COMPLETELY unrelated to the work I was doing for our company, and the other partners (except 1) were all undergrads w/o scholarships. The other grad student (who was my first CS instructor .. which was ironic since I was the CEO of the company) was also doing grad work completely unrelated to our game.
My point is ... MANY very creative and inovative ideas and products are produced by people that need to either finish their education or make some sort of income while they work on these projects. If rules are put in place that prevent people from enjoying the fruits of their labor, then innovation will drastically slow down.
Provided that the IP you are working on isn't closely related to what your employer is paying you to do ... and provided you are using your own resources (or resources that anyone would have made available to them), then I just don't see how it would be right for someone else to take away your rights to your IP.
