Re: working on open source and free software

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

I found
http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/19422/if-im-working-at-a-company-do-they-have-intellectual-property-rights-to-the-st
which seems to have a lot of good discussion.

Like you say, it looks like Ca is very
pro-competition/pro-individual-inventor.

Re: pre-existing obligations.  Yeah, looks like that's something I'll need
to do -- enumerate everything that I have worked on and what I plan to
work on as a "prior invention", just to cover my bases.

It seems that even non-compete clauses are not regularly enforced in
Ca.

I may ask them to modify parts of it, maybe just sprinkle lots of "To my
knowledge", "except in relation to...", and "with prior notice", per
http://faif.us/cast-media/FaiF_0x0D_NDAs.odp .  If they don't budge, I may
just sign it anyway since it seems Ca will partially protect me.

If you do think it would be wise for me to seek legal advice, I would
welcome the names of any friendly IP lawyers.

Thanks.

 > From: Jeremiah Lee <http://www.gmail.com/~jeremiah.lee>
 > Date: Wed, 7 Mar 2012 18:14:46 -0800
 >
 > Hey Robert,
 > 
 > Just a standard disclaimer first:
 > 
 > While I am an attorney, I am not _your_ attorney and the following should
 > not be construed as legal advice. If you believe you need legal advice, you
 > should seek professional counsel.
 > 
 > http://ocpatentlawyer.com/assignments-of-inventions-by-former-employees/relates
 > to patents and talks about Ca being very pro-competition.
 > 
 > I've had open source software out there for the last 10 years and when I've
 > signed on with new employers, I've just noted those as preexisting
 > obligations.
 > 
 > Do some searching on assignment of invention and copyright work-for-hire in
 > Ca.
 > 
 > Sorry for being a little weird, I just need to make sure I don't really
 > give out legal advice.
 > 
 > Thanks,
 > 
 > -jeremiah