[ILUG] nda's and other legal mumbo jumbo

[Kenn Humborg]

On Thu, Jun 01, 2000 at 10:54:39PM +0100, Steffen Higel wrote:
> "I hereby agree promptly to disclose to Companyx and I hereby, without
> further compensation beyond that which is provided for in my employment
> contract with Companyx assign to Companyx my entire right, title and
> interest to all designs trademarks, discoveris, etc. etc. ideas, SOFTWARE
> whether or not created during working hours or using experience gained
> from CompanyX."
[...snip...]
> This is obviously A Bad Thing. I am writing to the list to ask if anyone
> has signed anything similair, do companies really enforce them and is
> there any way I can get around having to sign to that (bar not taking the
> job).

You say, "I'll take the job if you remove this clause" and see what 
happens.  Or just strike out the clause on the contract when you sign
it.

Those contracts (like a lot of legal documents) just get carefully 
thought out once and then get re-used, cut-and-pasted, and generally
fscked around.  Very often, the other party doesn't even read through
it properly.  (I just signed a lease with my landlord, who is a 
solicitor.  When I asked what does clause X mean, she said "I never
noticed _that_ before, I _think_ it means Y.  Anyway, it's just a 
standard Law Society Lease Agreement.")

Consider every part of an employment contract negotiable.  Some people
only look at the salary figure.  Others are smarter and check everything
else out.

And, if they refuse to remove the clause, I don't think it would be
illegal/libelous/slanderous (whatever the legal term is, IANAL) to
tell us who they are...

Later,
Kenn