On Sat Nov 28 14:24:46 1998, Gregory S. Stark rambled into the ether: > > Matthew Schlegel <nitehawk@1ststep.net> writes: > > > I'm starting at Microsoft on monday (its just for the money, no flames please) > > as a contractor. Part of the contract I had to sign included the following > > clause: > > > > <Quote> > > 12. All ideas, inventions, creations, developments or improvements > > (collectively "ideas") conceived by Employee, alone or with others, while > > employed by the Company, whether or not during working hours, that are within > > the scope of the Company's or Client's business or that relate to any of the > > Company's or Client's work or projects are the exclusive property of the > > Company or Client, as the case my be, all of the Employee's right, title and > > interest in and to all such Ideas, and to any letters Patent, Copyrights and > > applications therefore in all countries. > > What I suggest you do is get disclaimers for each specific non-MS project > signed by your supervisor, or whoever is responsible for licensing issues for > your department. This is the same paperwork that the FSF would require you to > get from them before any contributions to FSF projects, and it generally isn't > hard to convince people to sign them for specific projects. In fact I wouldn't > be surprised if you found an MS manager who was famliar with them. > <snip> > > IMPORTANT: When you talk to your employer, *no matter what > instructions they have given you*, don't fail to show them the sample > disclaimer above, or a disclaimer with the details filled in for your > specific case. Companies are usually willing to sign a disclaimer > without any fuss. If you make your request less specific, you may open > Pandora's box and cause a long and unnecessary delay. > > > greg > > PS: I'm sorry for the lack of timeliness, I'm going through old mail and > didn't see a complete response to this post. > I got a sample waiver from the friendly people over at the FSF. I modified it nicely to fit, and sent a copy over to my employers (Volt Systems). Thus far, I have not received any positive response (best I've gotten is that he's checking with his supervisors) and it isn't looking to good. I did tell them that if they were not able to sign the waiver, I would be looking for a better job right right away. I'm hoping that they actually take me seriously and sign the waiver so I can get on with my work. The FSF has a copy of the waiver I sent over to Volt Systems with my permission to use freely. You can get a copy of it from them or I can send anyone that wants one a copy. Thanks again everyone and I hope I can get this resolved so I can help out :) -- Matthew Schlegel Encryption Keys: Type KeyID Created Fingerprint PGP RSA 0x3B80FDDF 1998-09-15 2110 E419 93DD 27DD 3229 168F D091 B9F2 GPG SSB 0XD6D4B82C 1998-10-26 E345 64C3 0A3D E0D6 263D 39C2 6B03 C972 D6D4 B82C PGP DSS 0x30AFD26D 1998-08-20 FC89 1E36 353E BDAA FF81 DD30 A7B0 3942 30AF D26D Keys are listed in order of preference. Please use my RSA key unless there is reason to do otherwise. (This will change as GPG becomes more popular) PGP RSA key on finger. Email me if you want any of the others.
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