GB> Wow.  It blows my mind that a corporation would think 
 GB> it could own what you
 GB> created on your own time, in your own home, on your own hardware.  I
 GB> seriously hope that you're charging all that you can.

Engineers tend to get hit with interesting IP agreements being requested. 
As I said, most don't really read what they sign.  For years, these
agreements technically have given the corporations first crack at any
patents one might want to submit.....  And most try to control what you can
do outside the job, since as an engineer you are thinking about the issues
even outside the job...  at least if there is some money the corporation
could make off it ... or if you could be consider starting something
independantly that could be considered to compete with the corporation.... 
If one wanted to take them on with a lawyer, one could probably win on a
number of items....  But, that is costly, and not something I'm going to
deal with for GNU licensed software support....

 GB> I'd make a really rotten contract programmer.  I'd 
 GB> laugh for 20 minutes and
 GB> then tell them to fix it or go pound sand. :)  But that's just me.  I'm a
 GB> jerk like that. *grin*

That will depend on your employment and financial situation.....  Sept. 11
had an negative impact on the industry I was in, which was starting a
decline before that date.  Things have now rebound.....  I almost didn't
get hired on that contract due to my attempt at negotiating needed changes,
and I was needing to get back to work....  I'm in a better position now....
 And with more knowledge on where to go with it....

As I said, very few read and think through the paperwork they get handed to
sign concerning IP rights......  Next round I have a better idea on how to
handle it.....  Most agreements want to cover past, current employment and
up to 1 to 5 years past employment in order to protect the corporation's
IP.....  When you work on the engineering of R&D projects being brought
to market, the corporations don't want someone who will jump ship and get a
competor to market first....  I'm one of the few who actually does list
past items that I claim IP rights on as part of the standard
disclosure.....  And some of what I list is technically stuff I own
copyright to (per current copyright law) even though it has no real use
under a given agreement, other than to protect my rights....  Technically,
even this message (since it is in written form) is covered under current
copyright law.....  The fact that I post it to a fidonet echo is giving the
needed permission to "copy" within that limited set of
distribution....  

Let's see, there's one patent that was applied for with my name (along with
a few other names) that I believe I can now drop from what I list, since
the corporation that applied for it went bankrupt and the patent
application finally was dropped due to lack of money.....  That particular
industry we had about a three to five year lead on the technology, along
with a very basic patent in hand....  I've now seen (several years later)
others bring to market what we had in limited (beta) testing....  So, if
you are going to get into certain fields, especially the engineering to
bring a new product or concept to market, you will get hit up for some sort
of agreement....  And the implication of the agreements with larger
corporations is generaly broader than with smaller companies.....  The
smaller companies usually will allow better editing of the agreement than
the larger companies..... 

Take care.....

Bob Jones, 1:343/41

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