any body read swedish?
my arms really hurt
standard practice
eminds wants me to sign a contract with clauses in it like this:from article 1:
I will devote my best efforts to the interests of the Company and will not engage in other employment or in any activities detrimental to the best interests of the Company without prior written consent of the Company.no consulting. no other web sites. no book deals. hmmm.
from article 4:
I hereby assign and agree to assign to the Company or its designess, my entire right, title, and interest in and to all Inventions which I may solely or jointley develop or reduce to practice during the period of my employment or consulting relationship with the Company (a) which pertain to any line of business activity of the Company, (b) which are aided by the use of time, material or facilities of the Company, whether or not during working hours, or (c) which relate to any of my work during the period of my employment or consulting relationship with the Company, whether or not during normal working hours. (from article two: "the term 'Inventions' means designs, trademarks, discoveries, formulae, processes, manufacting techniques, trade secrets, inventions, improvements, ideas, business plans or strategies, or copyrightable works...)so even if I do it at home, on my machine, on the weekend, if it pertains to the work I do for eminds (ie - the web, writing, design, computers, editing, publishing), they own it. hmmmm.
from article 6:
in order to persue any application for above inventinos or what have you, "I hereby irrevocably designate and appont the Company and its duly authorized offices and agents as my agent and attorney in fact, to act for and in my behalf and stead to execture and file any such applications and to do all other lwffully permitted acts to further the prosecution and issuance of letters patent or mask work or copyright registrations thereupon with the same legal force and effect as if executed by me."so they can sign legal documents for me. the company. officers of the company. people I might never meet. uh huh.
from article 8:
I agree to abide faithfully by all Company rules, regulations and policies."abbe sez that's cuz a small startup like this, all they own, assets, is the intellectual property of cool people like me. it's the second question from the venture capitalists - ahh! you have a good team! did they all sign over all their intellectual property?(this before the existance of any sort of company rule book; yeah right.)
[nov 8: another recovering adult child of litigators jonathan recommends I use the supplied exception sheet ("exhibit A - list all the exceptions to inventions, ie, everything you were working on before you signed this contract and entered into employment with the company" [sic]) - he recommends I list "my web site and writing about my life and everything that might pertain to that including any or all activities of my waking or sleeping hours" as exceptions to what they own or can control.
otherwise, he sez, it's standard practice to demand this kind of control in silicon valley, etc
in exchange for a miserly paycheck and some questionable stock options, they gain first rights to drink virgin blood.]
abbe advises me well on proposals for my future involvementlast night at 11.30 I left a message for sonic - let's rent a movie together some night. so on spacebar in the afternoon she collects a half dozen or more people to make it real tonight
abbe disappears into a room with randy
abbe announces she doesn't have time to help me now and I have to have the right priorities.
psychic coinkidink -karen relates that jenny cool dreamt of justin's web makeover's tv show - hmmmm.
I get off my first bus to her house, and am struk to immediately start racing for the next connecting bus stop. as I'm weaving traffic getting close, the next bus pulls up - psychic timing.
we all ordered food, some italian, some thai,
we never ended up watching a movie - it was wonderful.
justin hall | <justin at bud dot com>