Darren Reed napisal(a): > > I find it absurd that you can't use your spare time for your own stuff. > > Does it mean that if you write 2 lines of code at 2:00am in your > > house, that is still Oracle's IP??? > > It's madness! > > As long as it relates to something in which they have business > interests, then yes. > > For example, if I made a patch to the Linux kernel to fix a bug at home, > Oracle would own that IP (consider Oracle Enterprise Linux) even though > I don't work on OEL. On the other hand, if I were to patch FreeBSD for a > similar reason, Oracle would still own that because I would be working > on an "operating system" and Oracle is in the business of manufacturing > "operating systems" (Solaris & OEL.)
My sincere apologies to you because of that. I wonder whether a company has any legal right at all to restrict the freedom of their employees in such a way? After all, you are an employee during your working hours only. It is clear that what you do *as a part of your job* belongs to the employer. But after you finish that, you are a free man and whatever you do is your thing only. I can't see any legal ground for your employer to claim the ownership of whathever you do in your free time. Essentially speaking, such taking the ownership of your private work out from you is simply - theft. Yes, I know they are Oracle and have a lot of money for the lawyers ;), but even with that I think it can be proven in court that writing such clauses in employee's contracts is clearly against the law, as it seems to violate basic citizen's rights. Regards, Jaroslaw Rafa [email protected] -- Zapraszam na moja strone: http://www.ap.krakow.pl/~raj/
