>but I find the idea that businessmen own everything a programmer works on just because he's an employee abhorrent.
Just to play devils advocate here, sometimes it is the businessman with the idea and the programmers who implement the idea and create the tech. Should the Idea man get the rights or the "workers" digging the trench.
A lot of large companies have policies that anything you make in your off time is owned by them. I can see why they do it my company has probably spent thousands on training and employee development and they want the return.
It may not be a popular thing for some people (including myself) but I see why they do it.
> A lot of large companies have policies that anything you make in your off time is owned by them.
And that's just wrong, plain and simple. There's no excuse this is allowed.
> I can see why they do it my company has probably spent thousands on training and employee development and they want the return.
Training someone is not a valid claim to all uses of those skills; off-time is off-time. Just because someone applies a skill they learned at work in their off-time in no way justifies the company owing that work.
As wrong as it may seem the courts still side with the companies.
What's to stop me from directly copying what I am doing at work and trying to compete with them? It wouldnt be fair if every employee you hired could just quit then rip you off once they figured out everything.
Fortunately my company has a process where you can legally clear your side projects as long as it isnt in conflict or competes with the company.
Sure, but I'm talking about right and wrong, not law. The law is fucked in innumerable ways.
> What's to stop me from directly copying what I am doing at work and trying to compete with them? It wouldnt be fair if every employee you hired could just quit then rip you off once they figured out everything.
That's theft, copying is not the same thing as rewriting in your own time.
Just to play devils advocate here, sometimes it is the businessman with the idea and the programmers who implement the idea and create the tech. Should the Idea man get the rights or the "workers" digging the trench.
A lot of large companies have policies that anything you make in your off time is owned by them. I can see why they do it my company has probably spent thousands on training and employee development and they want the return.
It may not be a popular thing for some people (including myself) but I see why they do it.