A brief note on corporate arrogance
A little story. I know a guy who works for a company that was recently bought by a large corporation. I shan’t be naming the guy or either company, for a variety of reasons. Anyhow, as the deal nears its closing date, this man has been presented with the employment contract he’ll have to sign if he wants to stay on with the new entity.
As you’d imagine, said contract is chocked full of provisions designed to protect the company, but one in particular amazes me. It appears to assert a fairly comprehensive ownership of all intellectual property the employee generates. On the job. And off the job. Now, maybe they’re defining the term “intellectual property” more narrowly than I imagine (my guess is that in practice it only refers to IP that you could make money on). But on its face, it would seem to suggest that, if I were to be an employee there, they’d own the IP for Lullaby Pit, a Web site I’ve run since 1994.
This is arrogance run completely amok, and there’s a part of me that thinks the world would benefit if the lawyers who wrote that contract and the execs who authorized it were drug from their offices and stomped to death in the parking lot. On national TV. And the video should be public domain. To serve as an example for all the corporate cocksuckers who think the concept of freedom should only apply to shareholders and the unemployed.
I know that’s not very enlightened thinking, and it’s not a revelation that I’m a bad human being. But at various moments in history the world has been made a better place by the application of appropriate force.
Just sayin’, is all…
lullaby pit 
Wow!!!
Aloha,
Jeff
Wow!!!
Aloha,
Jeff
Dumb dumb dumb
This is so asinine. I can’t even come up with anything smart to say, the only thing that comes to mind is that the company and the lawyers are dumb arses and deserve the stomping you recommended.
BTW – Great pic, it made me laugh.
Dumb dumb dumb
This is so asinine. I can’t even come up with anything smart to say, the only thing that comes to mind is that the company and the lawyers are dumb arses and deserve the stomping you recommended.
BTW – Great pic, it made me laugh.
The place I work at now wanted me to sign such a “We own your every waking and sleeping thought, and your firstborn son” NDA. I made a stink.
If, on the unlikely chance, they were to try and claim something not related to my line of work, would probably bankroll the lawsuit, just on principle.
The place I work at now wanted me to sign such a “We own your every waking and sleeping thought, and your firstborn son” NDA. I made a stink.
If, on the unlikely chance, they were to try and claim something not related to my line of work, would probably bankroll the lawsuit, just on principle.