[time-nuts] [OT] Paywall Rant (was Re: Spoofing GPS)

Bob Bownes bownes at gmail.com
Thu Jun 28 15:21:33 UTC 2012


The fact that a clause is not enforceable doesn't prevent it from being put
in contracts to scare non lawyers. I had my personal attorney, who happens
to work for a firm that has another atty that specializes in employee/union
side labor law, review one of my employment contracts once. His opinion was
that the vast majority of it was unenforceable in the state I resided in
and it had clearly been written in a not so labor friendly state. Later in
life I asked him to write the employment contracts for a startup and he was
almost visibly uncomfortable. But once I explained I wanted 'fair and
bilaterally binding' contracts, he did a great job and saved a number of
folks when we sold the company.

On a more time nuts front, I have ntpd running on my new RasPi. Next step,
using the GPIO pins for the 1pps instead of a USB serial dongle.

Bob



On Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 11:02 AM, jmfranke <jmfranke at cox.net> wrote:

> When I was in college, I worked part time on the engineering staff of
> several AM broadcast stations. The employment contract forbid me from
> working at another station within 250 miles if I was dismissed or resigned.
> The clause was not limited to just the on-air personnel.
>
> John  WA4WDL
>
> ------------------------------**--------------------
> From: "Peter Gottlieb" <nerd at verizon.net>
> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 10:46 AM
> To: <time-nuts at febo.com>
> Subject: Re: [time-nuts] [OT] Paywall Rant (was Re:  Spoofing GPS)
>
>  I support that law.  What a waste of talent if bright stars in advancing
>> fields are snuffed out!
>>
>> Interestingly, I once heard it mentioned (in a business roundtable
>> meeting) that this was one of the "anti-business" laws which must be
>> strongly fought against.
>>
>> You are right though, just because there is precedent does not stop
>> companies and their lawyers from inserting such clauses into their terms of
>> employment, most of which are non-negotiable for engineers.  The question
>> is, how many individuals can afford going to court, both in terms of cost
>> as well as time?  And courts are unpredictable, so you might even lose and
>> be destroyed financially.  Thus, specific laws codifying such employee's
>> rights are great.  Perhaps such "anti business" laws played a part in the
>> high-tech buildup in CA.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>>
>>
>> On 06/28/12, Jim Lux<jimlux at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>> On 6/28/12 6:38 AM, Peter Gottlieb wrote:
>>
>>> Very true, and in some cases (Texas case) a judge ruled that an employee
>>> that left a firm can never work in that same field again for the rest of
>>> their life due to both positive and negative knowledge.
>>>
>>>
>> Not in California, where such agreements are specifically prohibited by
>> law.
>>
>> And, for that matter, the later legal strategy calling out "inevitable
>> disclosure" (that is, that if you work in the same field you will
>> inevitably disclose something that is trade secret) has been held
>> invalid in a variety of courts.
>>
>> This doesn't stop company A from threatening to sue Company B who wants
>> to hire someone from Company A, but it turns the threat into nothing, if
>> Company B's lawyer writes a nice letter citing the half dozen or so
>> cases to Company A's lawyer. In effect telling A, "pound sand with your
>> stupid extortion"
>>
>> It *is* still effective in the old boys network.. executive from company
>> A mentions to executive from company B, "you know, if you hire good ol'
>> Bob, it could get sticky, legally. You sure you want to take that on."
>> Of such are things like illegal anti-poaching agreements made and of
>> such are consent decrees issued.
>>
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