Comment by conorgil145 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by conorgil145 | Hacker News Reader

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I realize that you are not an attorney, but thanks for the long response and advice!

California Labor Code...

Does this affect me at all since I will be living in Baltimore, MD?

Is that all of clause 6, or did you just cut it off there?

Clause 6 also says "See Below" and points me to Attachment A which has the following default text:

Attachment A. I own or control the following items of intellectual property, and I made or conceived these items before entering into this agreement.

Napkin Board definitely is not the only thing that I have ever worked on that I care about, but I wasn't sure to what extent I should/could list everything I have ever done. I have a personal blog that I write on sometimes (kind of), I made a bunch of cool demos/programs while still in college (mostly for class), I frequently give advice to friends working on their projects, etc, etc. What is the extent of this Attachment A?

I read PG's essays during the summer before my Junior year and I have wanted to start a company/work for a start up ever since. However, I wanted to get some experience before I dove in head-first. I decided that consulting would be a good starting point because I could work on a wide range of projects in a short amount of time. Also, I never want to write financial software and Company X's offer was by far the best offer I received outside of that realm. I was hoping that I could work in my free time to implement a bunch of ideas that I have had over the past year(several web apps, a browser version of a board game, iPhone/Android apps, etc), but it is starting to look like that will be more difficult than I initially expected.

Does this affect me at all since I will be living in Baltimore, MD?

Likely the company has HQ or major operations in California. Maryland's laws on this may be different; but in a dispute with any firm you generally have the choice of suing them where they are incorporated, where their corporate HQ is, or wherever they have major operations.

As for the list, I'd throw on everything you can think of, including the kitchen sink. All your software projects, your blog, stuff in your college newspaper, your poetry notebook, whatever. You don't have to say what everything is, just reasonably describe it, like 'various personal works of prose and poetry written between 2005-2010', and also a statement reserving your current and future rights. Not to be an ass about it, just to demonstrate that you have a clear understanding of what belongs to you.

Remember the company isn't out to screw you, they're just protecting their own interests and naturally they would prefer you to cooperate. If their offer is good you should consider it and maybe just put your ideas on ice for a year or two while you make some $ and get experience.

But again, consult an attorney - I can explain what stuff means in literal terms, but not what course of action you should take or what other factors might apply.

Haha great. I will start making a long list including everything down to the comic book I drew in crayon when I was in elementary school :)

and also a statement reserving your current and future rights

How do you think that should be worded? Maybe something like "I reserve the right of ownership to any future projects, inventions, writings, etc that I develop after beginning employment with Company X in such cases that the aforementioned projects do not use Company X resources, do not compete with Company X, do not negatively affect my performance on Company X projects, and are strictly and independently developed during my personal free time"?

The offer is good, I just bought a car so now I have loans, and I am starting in two weeks so it would be foolish to bail. I realize they have to do this and I have no problem cooperating, but I just want to make sure I am covered all the way to the kitchen sink :). Not working on some side projects for a year or two would be extremely difficult for me. Hopefully, it is just a formality and I can get it worked out. I sent emails to my team lead, the HR department, and their help desk for new hires. Hopefully, I will get some informative emails tomorrow morning.

That's exactly what I had in mind; but please remember, it's no more than instinct coming from me. You should definitely consult a professional to be sure.

California Labor Code... Does this affect me at all since I will be living in Baltimore, MD?

Probably not. You can look into seeing if there is something similar in MD.

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