intellectual-property
Employment intellectual property ownership loopholes
<p>Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help.</p>

<p>I work for a large software corporation and have in my employment contract the standard clauses saying the company owns essentially any idea of mine regardless of if its during or outside office hours.</p>

<p>I have a handful of hobby project ideas that I believe could earn good money that are completely outside the industry I work in. I understand because its "software" my corporation could claim ownership regardless. </p>

<p>Is there any loopholes I could use to avoid this as the corporation doesn't seem interested in the idea of having contact amendments to allow the ownership with me. </p>

<p>If I was employeed by Microsoft and then took a sneaky second job at Apple, could Microsoft claim ownership of any IP I worked on while working at Apple? Could I say create an organisation or a trust or something that "owned" the solution which would only mean i have violated my contract and be sacked, over them taking ownership? </p>

<p>This is likely dependent on country, region etc. but just seeing what options there are as currently I feel my only option is to leave the organisation.</p>

<p>I understand I would need proper legal advice, just trying to work out if its worth pursuing lawyers to help on this or just giving up.</p>

<p>In many employment contracts there is wording like "I <em>hereby</em> assign all . . . ". That language is designed to say whatever falls under the scope of the agreement is signed over to the the company's ownership <em>even before you think of it</em>. This wording became popular because of a <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/agree-to-assign-vs-hereby-assign-stanford-v-roche-wording-assignment-agreements-determines-p" rel="nofollow noreferrer">patent suit case</a> like your Microsoft/Apple example where a researcher was working for two institutions at the time he made a very valuable invention. The organization with "I hereby assign" beat the one with "I agree to assign [after I invent something]".</p>

<p>If your employee agreement says "I hereby assign" then they already own the idea and it not just money they can take from you but the invention itself. </p>

<p>If you are lucky enough to be in California there are limits on what your employer can demand in an employment agreement. </p>

<p>As one comment said, ask the company.</p>
