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Wait on earth would a Michelin restaurant be able to ‚claim copyright‘ on what one of their chefs does in his free time? As long as said cook doesn‘t say „Michelin star chef from Restaurant X is offering you this dish‘ (which would possibly be a trademark issue, but still not copyright) I don‘t see how this could possibly be forbidden.

Everybody is allowed to have more than one job if they please. It‘s just that software ‚creations‘ outside of work are trying to be owned by the (main) employer company.



> Everybody is allowed to have more than one job if they please.

In my country, it's generally illegal to work for a company also work for a competitor. It's a breach of the duty of loyalty to your employer.


It's also that way in the US, but this is going a step further....

Many US employers require you to disclose your side projects (even those you start before joining them). My current employer requires I also tell them of any other business entities I have a relationship with (even unrelated to my job). This then informs them of what IP/consulting fees they can go after if they want to. This is essentially what the Russian Rambler / Nginx issue is claiming to.

It's not fair, just another big corporate overreach because employees have, in the past, made products that might complete, or using work-related IP (including consulting, which leverages work-related knowledge), or using work equipment... and corps lobbied and litigated to essentially soften any defense an employee can claim to retain ownership


Recipes cannot be copyrighted.

https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ33.pdf


>Everybody is allowed to have more than one job if they please.

If you have some knowledge worker-type job, your company is highly unlikely to have any problem if you make some pottery on the weekends and sell it. [Although I have no doubt there are overreaching employee agreements.] But even companies with pretty liberal employment contracts around IP, open source contributions, etc. are quite likely to have a problem if you set yourself up as a consultant on the side in a way that's either competitive or a conflict of interest.


I mean, the restaurant claiming copyright on e.g. recipies is the same situation as whatever is going on here.


You can't copyright (in the US) a recipe, but the recipe might be considered a trade secret, which effectively can be treated similarly




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