IBM scraps rewards program for staff inventions, wipes away cash points | Big Blue staffers aren’t pleased to lose out on potential bonuses
theregister.com
IBM scraps rewards program for staff inventions, wipes away cash points | Big Blue staffers aren’t pleased to lose out on potential bonuses::Big Blue staffers aren't pleased to lose out on potential bonuses
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It's even more insane when you find out that IBM has a history of forcing their employees to sign contracts that state that anything that their employees work on at home in their own free time, is the property of IBM
A company where I applied wanted me to do that as well. I was going to be a truck driver..
I'm not defending this, but this is an extremely common practice in the US.
No it’s not.
If this were such a common practice there would hardly be any US contributors to open source projects.
The legal practice is common. Enforcement is significantly more challenging (particularly when you're working under an online alias in a niche space).
It also extends to other fields.
Disney has this rule on all artistic creations of it's employees
IP assignment is extremely common, but there are almost always exceptions that you still own the IP if it's your own time, your own equipment, and not directly related to what you do for your employer.