copyrightI’m reviving here the discussion from this OnStartups question, with a specific focus on Google.
Google’s employment agreement, like those of many other companies, stipulates that Google owns any intellectual property you develop while employed by Google, even if you do so using only your own time and equipment, and without using any Google proprietary information.
California provides a partial exemption from that rule in California Labor Code Section 2870, in that the above…
…shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer’s equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information except for those inventions that […] relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the employer’s business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the employer
However, because Google’s business interests, especially anticipated ones, are so wide and varied, the employment agreement clause is likely to apply to any personal project.
Google does have a process to grant you copyright of your work but for open source projects. What if you don’t release the code as open source?
How can a Google employee try out a startup idea (that genuinely does not compete with Google’s interests), at home on weekends, without fearing legal action from Google? Some considerations:
Is this a reason why so few successful startups have come out of Google compared with other companies?
UPDATE
Found this discussion on Quora and this YCombinator comment from ~2010 that mentions
“a process called the IARC (Invention Assignment Review Committee) where you can submit a description of your work, and if your submission is accepted, you get an assurance from Google that it won’t try to claim ownership of it”
It would be nice to see someone who represents Google address this question. Consider a candidate who got an offer from Google but wants to work on a side project off-duty. Based on publicly available information, the candidate may consider declining the offer if they think they would get in legal trouble by working on the side project. You can see this concern expressed in the Hacker News thread I linked to above.
If Google actually is not evil and has a process by which they can grant some forms of IP exemption, it would be Google’s loss to not mention that.
I do not work for Google, but I am affiliated in one of their partnership programs.
First I would like to address one comment about successful start-ups not coming out of Google - my idea behind this is as simple as the fact that Google would prefer to purchase them.
Anyways, honesty is always best policy. Without spilling the beans on your idea, run the desire to have a side business by your supervisor and see what kind of feedback you get. Google is known for creating working environments which support individual growth and success. You will never know unless you try!
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