I want to create a hobby project and release it under MIT. I work as a developer professionally and i have some clauses in my employment contract that gives any IP to my employer. My employer is open to amending these and/or adding exceptions for specific projects. Can anyone point to guidance resources on how to formulate such exceptions properly?
// EDIT: My contract is not totally strict, it refers to applicable laws and the wording is something like ‘knowledge gained through company activities belong to the company’, which is probably intentionally vague. Also: i like my job and employer and they are open to FOSS. My only concern is whether some higherups might disagree at a later point which is why i want to get the wording right. Will not spend money on a lawyer - it’s not that important to me. Thanks for sharing your experiences so far.
CC image ref.: https://thebluediamondgallery.com/legal/employment-contract.html
IP ownership isn’t something that you can definitively establish at the outset of a project (even if you copyright code and secure patents for protectable ideas), and wrapping your work in an MIT license won’t preclude infringement claims later on. Plenty of employers sponsor open source work, so it’s not a crazy ask, but it’s usually work that serves the company’s interests. You can ask for permission to work on a project with the mutual understanding that it be MIT licensed, and 2) once work hits a release milestone, get written confirmation from your employer that they grant any claims of ownership to you (or whoever).
If you want more than informal promises from your employer, you’ll find that a spare PC is gonna be much cheaper than the legal consult and drafting of any agreements you or they may want.