this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2025
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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

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[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (11 children)

"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.

[–] wiegell 1 points 1 day ago

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

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