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Is IBM allowed to do this?

G

gigapet

Lifer
I was just discussing a business opportunity with a friend of mine. I wanted him to help me develop software for an idea I had.

He says to me your idea is great however anything I do while an employee of IBM is IBM property.

wtf? how is this possible? when your at your own home on your own hardware using your own software and you create something IBM owns it? this seems illegal, illogical and absurd.

What is the validity to this?
 
Sounds right. Anything he creates while employed there is property of IBM.

Probably in their code of conduct they have to signe every year. It prevents people from making money off of IBMs goods.
 
yeah, that is pretty standard with big businesses

it would be really hard for a private person to prove they did the work on their own time and didn't have any crossover with their work

it isn't worth messing with, you go against a big corp. and you'll lose
 
Welcome to the age of "ideas".

This has come up in court many times, and it's always may the best lawyer win. And you know who has the best lawyers.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Sounds right. Anything he creates while employed there is property of IBM.

Probably in their code of conduct they have to signe every year. It prevents people from making money off of IBMs goods.
Click to expand...

he would not be using ibm goods.
 
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
it depends on the situation (how close it is to what he works on)
Click to expand...

he works on websphere applications.

this would require him to develop web app for a cell phone....seems completely different. websphere is a whole seperate monster using an entirely different language.
 
Originally posted by: gigapet
Originally posted by: spidey07
Sounds right. Anything he creates while employed there is property of IBM.

Probably in their code of conduct they have to signe every year. It prevents people from making money off of IBMs goods.
Click to expand...

he would not be using ibm goods.
Click to expand...

If he used ANYTHING he learned while at IBM then he would be. You see he belongs to them, anything he does belongs to them.

Big BLUE pwns j00!!
😉
 
It doesn't matter, as far as IBM is concerned, he is on least to them and thus thier property. Anything that thier property makes is thiers.
 
Generally, the contract they will have you sign would say anything you do will belong to them. In reality though, if you use all your own equipment and time working on it and it isn't related to projects being done by IBM they won't beable to take it from you. I've heard of cases where it went in favor of the business because the guy stole pencils from the place and used them so it's a very fical thing.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: gigapet
Originally posted by: spidey07
Sounds right. Anything he creates while employed there is property of IBM.

Probably in their code of conduct they have to signe every year. It prevents people from making money off of IBMs goods.
Click to expand...

he would not be using ibm goods.
Click to expand...

If he used ANYTHING he learned while at IBM then he would be. You see he belongs to them, anything he does belongs to them.

Big BLUE pwns j00!!
😉
Click to expand...

big blue owns his car because he got a car buying lesson from a coworker?
 
Originally posted by: gigapet
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
it depends on the situation (how close it is to what he works on)
Click to expand...

he works on websphere applications.

this would require him to develop web app for a cell phone....seems completely different. websphere is a whole seperate monster using an entirely different language.
Click to expand...

Websphere uses java

Cell phones use java.

hmmm
 
Originally posted by: slag
Originally posted by: gigapet
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
it depends on the situation (how close it is to what he works on)
Click to expand...

he works on websphere applications.

this would require him to develop web app for a cell phone....seems completely different. websphere is a whole seperate monster using an entirely different language.
Click to expand...

Websphere uses java

Cell phones use java.

hmmm
Click to expand...

he can prove he knew java b4 he was employed.
 
say he did learn java on the job. If he got a part time teaching position teaching java at a community college could they collect his pay checks too? where does this end?
 
Originally posted by: gigapet
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: gigapet
Originally posted by: spidey07
Sounds right. Anything he creates while employed there is property of IBM.

Probably in their code of conduct they have to signe every year. It prevents people from making money off of IBMs goods.
Click to expand...

he would not be using ibm goods.
Click to expand...

If he used ANYTHING he learned while at IBM then he would be. You see he belongs to them, anything he does belongs to them.

Big BLUE pwns j00!!
😉
Click to expand...

big blue owns his car because he got a car buying lesson from a coworker?
Click to expand...

bad example, that is the difference between real property and intellectual property

you can not like it all you want, but unless the big boys and lawyers and politicians are forced to change IP laws, that's the way it is
 
Originally posted by: gigapet
Originally posted by: CanOWorms
it depends on the situation (how close it is to what he works on)
Click to expand...

he works on websphere applications.

this would require him to develop web app for a cell phone....seems completely different. websphere is a whole seperate monster using an entirely different language.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should consult a lawyer about it. Any situation can be debatable. If he was designing a golf ball, most likely IBM wouldn't be able to claim it since it's completely unrelated to his work.
 
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