Comment Re:Other Laws? (Score 1) 759
in 1984 I went to work at General Dynamics in California (a Delaware corporation headquartered at that time in St. Louis, MO) a similar provision was in my employment contract and my soon to be boss made a point to highlight the provision.
On the other hand the company routinely paid fairly hefty rewards for "sugestions" that the company coud use to make or save money. I never heard of anybody in my plant that got in trouble for inventing in their spare time and trying to sell their invention. But I knew several folks that got $10-30K for their sugestions.
When GD sent me to Alabama I had to sign a new contract and the provision was there. Other companies I worked for in Alabama and Tennessee had similar provisions in their contracts. Most private universities have such provisions. I don't know what the end result (other than the guy moved to New York) but a guy at a southern university worked on some GPL code and released it and the university claimed that the code could not be released until the university reviewed it and made a decision that they couldn't make any money on it (potentially a 2-4 year process), then the guy could release it.
On the other hand the company routinely paid fairly hefty rewards for "sugestions" that the company coud use to make or save money. I never heard of anybody in my plant that got in trouble for inventing in their spare time and trying to sell their invention. But I knew several folks that got $10-30K for their sugestions.
When GD sent me to Alabama I had to sign a new contract and the provision was there. Other companies I worked for in Alabama and Tennessee had similar provisions in their contracts. Most private universities have such provisions. I don't know what the end result (other than the guy moved to New York) but a guy at a southern university worked on some GPL code and released it and the university claimed that the code could not be released until the university reviewed it and made a decision that they couldn't make any money on it (potentially a 2-4 year process), then the guy could release it.
