On Thu, 2005-12-22 at 22:05 -0500, Aaron wrote:
> A not-so-hypothetical scenario... it the middle of your 3rd week on a new
> job -- which you really like and enjoy.  Now the HR guy comes to by, hands
> you a couple sheets of paper, and says to review this Non-Disclosure,
> Non-Compete, and Inventions Agreement that he forgot to mention and have you
> sign.
> 
> Among other items, it contains the following 3 paragraphs...
> 
> "The Employee agrees to keep the company informed of his ideas and
> suggestions towards the technical development of the lines of equipment to
> be engineered, sold and/or managed by the Company.  Employee further agrees
> that he will disclose promptly to the Company any and all inventions,
> improvements, and developments, hereinafter referred to as "Inventions,"
> conceived or made by the Employee during his employment, alone or in
> conjunction with others, relating in any way to the business of the Company
> or in which the Company may be interested, and that all such Inventions and
> all information and records in regard thereto shall be assigned to and
> become the exclusive property of the Company..."
> 
> "It is the intent of the Company that the Employee's sole remuneration be
> for services rendered on behalf of the Company; it is not in the Company's
> interest for upper-level employees to "moonlight."  Therefore, the Employee
> should either arrange any taxable compensable endeavors for others through
> the Company, or shall review his plans with, and have them approved by,
> management before commitments are made, and the Company promises that such
> approval will not unreasonably be withheld."
> 
> "In event Employee's employment is ended by either party, he has the right
> to use the training an experience gained from his employment with company to
> provide for his livelihood, except as reasonably limited by this Agreement,
> with Company's customers, other customers in the industry, or in related
> fields of employment; however, the Employee agrees not to work directly for
> any competitor of the Company, nor indirectly as salesman, agent,
> consultant, soliciting representative or sub-contractor, or in any other way
> promote the sale, development, or use of a competitor's product, or
> products, while he is employed by Company and for a two year period
> following the end of his employment with Company."
> 
> What are your thoughts on the above and what would you do?

I'm not sure about the country you're in, so what I'm about to say may
not apply to you.

First off, realize that no matter what the agreement says, nothing that
is "illegal" in the agreement is in any way binding, whether you sign it
or not. Why I say this is because the "all inventions belong to us"
clause USED to be in the contracts I saw, lately that clause is gone. I
haven't confirmed, but I've heard that it's a unreasonable clause: what
you do on your own time is your own business, and if you profit from it
there's nothing wrong with that, and the company has no right to
restrict you like that.

The second clause about "not allowed to work for a competitor" used to
also be in the agreement people at my company signed, it's not there
anymore either. I'm pretty sure that's completely a "no-no" where I am
from, it's completely unreasonable to restrict someone with a particular
expertise from seeking employment in that field with a competitor.
Engineering can be a very specialized thing, and if you're really good
in a certain aspect, it really is unfair to restrict you to "non"
competitors, and I doubt it would hold up, at least where I'm from.

Personally, when I got my first job, these lines were in the agreement,
I was a little concerned, but the job was very valuable to me, so I
signed it. Those agreements generally aren't cast in stone, but for some
companies they are. TTYL

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