I've been working on a game on and off for the past few years, and now I've got a job offer by a game company.

In the contract they gave me, it says that they own any Intellectual Property I come up with during the course of my employment, even if it's in my off hours.

However, there's a clause that says that I can list previously owned IP's on the contract, and those ones are exempt from this rule.

Does anyone have any advice on how to do this in a fool-proof way? I don't have a game website up yet, but I have lots of concept art and gameplay screenshots (which are subject to change).

Maybe all that is overkill and I just need to include a short blurb explaining the game concept.

What if the game name ends up having to be changed later?

Thanks Tom!

totesmagotes said:

In the contract they gave me, it says that they own any Intellectual Property I come up with during the course of my employment, even if it's in my off hours.

Serious question, is this even legal? If yes, is it legal-legal? So, would it hold against a judge?

So you should just shutoff your brains and don't think of anything else but the company work? The number one reason why as much as I love game programming, I would NEVER work for any game company along with all the known reported issues. This is really a question for a lawyer who is versed in these cases. With that said, there is NO job in the world that I would accept if that option was ever presented to me. These are the some of the same companies that over-work their employees, facilitate toxic culture all of which shows how much they “value” the said employee, then expect you to devote your entire life to the company?
My only advice to you is to thing long and hard about how much you really want this job and is it going to worth the hassle ( real or perceived ) in the long run

cgrant said:
So you should just shutoff your brains and don't think of anything else but the company work?

You are allowed to be creative in your free time, but in case you create something that your boss likes, he wants to have the right to take it.

One should be very careful when signing papers.

Well, I work there now, and I'm not too worried. I think their lawyer was a little overzealous in the language, but I don't expect to run into any issues, seeing as I've already got my IP as an exception on the contract.

IANAL

I think companies write such policies to have a stronger position if there's ever a conflict about whether they own some intellectual property or not. My employer has a blanket policy that covers any intellectual property generated while being employed, and I have asked for many exceptions over the years. As long as what I ask doesn't relate to the company business, they don't have any problem granting the exceptions.

I don't know if this type of policy has been tested in court. They might be unenforceable.