ckaun%aids-unix@sri-unix.UUCP (04/13/84)
From: Carl Kaun <ckaun@aids-unix> I think that anyone concerned about employment agreements would do well to contact a lawyer. The different states consider various clauses in employment agreements enforceable to differing degrees. I seem to remember reading an article about six months ago that said (broadly) that California, for example, considered clauses restricting people from continuing their professional careers to be not generally in the public interest, and such clauses should be carefully considered as to enforceability for that reason. This same article (which I am trying to dig up) said something about the state of California holding that clauses assigning all rights to all ideas, patents, etc. arising during employment, are enforceable only to the extent that such ideas, etc. resulted from the employment situation. Again, one should really contact a lawyer to get a clear opinion in any given situation. There is enough variability in this area to make any general comments suspect. My personal experience has been that employment agreements and the employer's approach to them are remarkably uniform in industry. When I have questioned companies about these agreements, I am told that they adopt this fairly standard agreement and hold to it firmly on the advice of their corporate counsel. The general idea (from the company point of view) seems to be to claim all you can now, and work out what you can really enforce if the situation comes to that. They take this approach not because of some malignant motive, but because it has proved the most prudent course for them to take.