

Ask HN: how do I fill in a 'declaration of prior inventions' - nezumi

I'm about to start a new job and have to fill one of these in. I don't have any patents to write down, but I do have a number of side projects, open source contributions, and works that I've licensed to previous clients which I don't want my new employer to make a claim on. I'd like to keep my options open wrt monetizing those of my side projects which don't compete with my employer.<p>- How much detail should I give?<p>- Should I even bother with things that don't compete with my employer?<p>- Is this form actually worth anything in court? (It's actually a Japanese company, I've yet to find a good resource on Japanese employment law.)
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cperciva
_How much detail should I give?_

Enough that someone will be able to look at your work and the declaration and
say "yep, this is what he was talking about".

 _Should I even bother with things that don't compete with my employer?_

If your contract has a typical "all your inventions are belong to us" clause,
absolutely.

 _Is this form actually worth anything in court? (It's actually a Japanese
company, I've yet to find a good resource on Japanese employment law.)_

Ideally the form will prevent anything from going to court. Most people are
actually quite reasonable, and the most likely way you'll end up fighting over
ownership of your work is if your employer actually thinks they have a right
to it.

(I am not a lawyer, have absolutely no experience with Japanese employment
law, et cetera.)

