intellectual property contracts

[Karen Lunsford <klunsfor -at- UIUC -dot- EDU>]

Dear listmembers,
        A member of the BIZCOM list suggested that I forward a query to you
that
I've received from my students.  I teach a  business & technical writing
course, and most of my students this semester are graduating engineers (civil,
environmental, computer, and more) or science majors (esp. biology).  I do not
know how many students, if any, are applying for technical writing jobs per
se,
but they are applying to companies for whom they will create products and
documentation.  Those offered jobs are often being asked to sign a contract
that says that any work they do belongs to that company.  I know that this
is a
common practice. The question, though, is whether there are any phrases or
clauses they should look out for that they should not agree to unwittingly.
In some cases, students weren't entirely sure what they were being asked to
sign (I know, you should never sign something you don't understand.)

They were also concerned whether they would even have the option of
negotiating over these contracts--their concern was that if they raised
questions, the company might rescind the job offer.

My advice to them was to ask people in their fields about these contracts and
practices--I don't know the answers. But I'd like to learn more. Do you
know of
anything that students should be aware of? Do you know of any
articles/resources I could read to learn more?
Many thanks,
Karen Lunsford
klunsfor -at- uiuc -dot- edu

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=