publications and company rights

[gullwing]

hi

if someone writes a technical publication in his free time into a magazine, does he/she has to ask for a permission from his employer to publish? does the employer own the rights of the engineer's publications? (i think my job contract says they do. isn't it illegal?) i think i am not at the preference of them to write any publications, so maybe they would publish my writing with someone else's name, or deny to give me the permission for publishing. i think its better to prepare for all cases.
how is it at other companies?

 

[Mr.Cool]

you ask a legal question, and i don't think anyone here (including me) is a lawyer.

my non-professional opinion.. if the article is related to the subject matter of your work (probably) then you must speak with your work HR person to see if there is a conflict of interest.

if the article is NOT related to the subject matter of your work then you must speak with your work HR person to see if there is a conflict of interest.

get my point?

get their answer in writing. if you're too afraid to ask for it in writing then you're a sheep and deserve what you get.

get my second point?



Mr.Cool

 

[gullwing]

if i ask them, then i have to provide the text to them to determine if there is a conflict of interest or not. from that point, if they decide that they do whatever they want, then they will just do whatever they want, since they have the text and the "right" to do anything with it.
if it is related to work is a blurry thing. it is related to professional electronics, and the work is also related to professional electronis. so one can say it is the same. one could say also that i heard all these at the company, when really i didnt, and they have no idea about the subject of the text, or maybe they heard about it, but nothing more.
no one deserves to get this. probably i will ask them about it, i just wanted to know if other people who actually wrote publication already, how did they deal about it with their employers. or, did they have to? is it in every contract, or just in mine? this part in the contract is blurry, it can mean anything.

 

[Mr.Cool]

they carefully word your text to be general in nature. don't give the EXACT text. just subject matter. explain why you feel it is different.

the rest is up to a jury.

i wrote a publication once. i went through the company for permission. i tell, it was a HUGE waste of time & money for everyone's sake. but.. in the end, document was published and nobody was concerned about it.