I want to create a hobby project and release it under MIT. I work as a developer professionally and i have some clauses in my employment contract that gives any IP to my employer. My employer is open to amending these and/or adding exceptions for specific projects. Can anyone point to guidance resources on how to formulate such exceptions properly?
// EDIT: My contract is not totally strict, it refers to applicable laws and the wording is something like ‘knowledge gained through company activities belong to the company’, which is probably intentionally vague. Also: i like my job and employer and they are open to FOSS. My only concern is whether some higherups might disagree at a later point which is why i want to get the wording right. Will not spend money on a lawyer - it’s not that important to me. Thanks for sharing your experiences so far.
CC image ref.: https://thebluediamondgallery.com/legal/employment-contract.html
"Hobby project" ? But on company time? Then its not a hobby project...
Anything you create outside of work hours is yours to publish under any license you want as long as it doesnt include any code that was produced at work.
Sadly not the way it works, in Germany. The employer can argue that the employment enabled you technically to invent something or to build something (Germany).
EDIT: Emphasized again, that I talk about the situation in Germany. Guys.. laws differ in countries and we got a own law that rules on that topic.
But only if you used information that isnt publicly available yes? If i learn how to use KiCad at work and then use KiCad in private, then my employer doesnt get IP rights for the result.
My old contract says otherwise. The contract was generous enough to allow me to invent something in totally unrelated fields. Question would be how to proof that the work didn’t enable me to invent that stuff.
That seems like something that wouldnt hold up in court if tested. If you make money with it, thats a different issue (Wettbewerbsverbot), but if you publish free and open source, then this wouldnt fall under that to my understanding.
Wettbewerbsverbot is yet another issue, when you switch to a competitor.
Say I’m programming fullstack for my employer and start a Web App as hobby. How do I prove that this is not based on training my employer paid for? If it is in a totally unrelated field it would be easier.
Do you need to? Are they expecting you to not learn anything over time at a job?
Like in the US it's pretty common that if they pay for training and education, if you leave within a year or something, then you have to pay it back. But otherwise it's expected that you accumulate experience.
See also "what if we train them and they leave?" "what if we don't train them, and they stay?"
That’s what they use to say here, too.
Still inventions and „creations“ while employed have their own law and regulation. I don’t know them in detail, but I understand that it can be fuzzy and complicated.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeitnehmererfindung
You are repeating what your employer told you, not the actual law. Of course hiring lawyers would be expensive so it's best avoided, which is why OP is here.
I’m repeating what was in my German valid, and lawful contract and is part of the law: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gesetz_%C3%BCber_Arbeitnehmererfindungen
I would like to do it outside company time, but on their machine if possible, but if not, i’ll just get another machine. But as others have stated there are some small print that says something like - knowledge gained through company activities will be their IP, it’s somewhat vague and can be interpreted in different ways
Outside of work AND not using any company resources, like company laptop or software.
All must be done on a personal computer with personal software licenses.