Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Halivar" data-source="post: 6242934" data-attributes="member: 9327">I am a software developer. The idea is that that since I am exposed to company IP all day long, my work outside is &quot;tainted&quot; by it, also. I can imagine an RPG designer would have the same trouble.Non-competition clauses of this kind are challenged all the time, with varying degrees of success. There are roughly two models in the US legal framework for how they go down: in Massachusetts, they are enforced almost 100%. If you sign the contract, a company can own your work for up to a year after you leave, depending on the contract. Meanwhile, in California, there are limits to enforcement. Specifically, when you change job titles in the same company, you have to sign a new non-compete or it's invalid. These two states are considered the extreme ends of the issue.As for actual court cases, the most high profile is Microsoft vs. Lee, where Dr. Kai-Fu Lee left MS in 2005 to work for Google. Microsoft received a preliminary injunction against the hire, and Google settled. Note that this was in California, which is the most lax of all states with respect to non-compete enforcement.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Halivar, post: 6242934, member: 9327"] I am a software developer. The idea is that that since I am exposed to company IP all day long, my work outside is "tainted" by it, also. I can imagine an RPG designer would have the same trouble. Non-competition clauses of this kind are challenged all the time, with varying degrees of success. There are roughly two models in the US legal framework for how they go down: in Massachusetts, they are enforced almost 100%. If you sign the contract, a company can own your work for up to a year after you leave, depending on the contract. Meanwhile, in California, there are limits to enforcement. Specifically, when you change job titles in the same company, you have to sign a new non-compete or it's invalid. These two states are considered the extreme ends of the issue. As for actual court cases, the most high profile is Microsoft vs. Lee, where Dr. Kai-Fu Lee left MS in 2005 to work for Google. Microsoft received a preliminary injunction against the hire, and Google settled. Note that this was in California, which is the most lax of all states with respect to non-compete enforcement. [/QUOTE]

Verification