<story><title>Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive</title><text>The company I work for (software engineer, advertising industry) was recently acquired by a larger company.&lt;p&gt;The new employment contract stipulates the usual oppressive confidential information and IP assignment things, detailing how the company owns anything I come up with. The state I&amp;#x27;m in specifically protects my rights to things I create entirely independently (outside company time and equipment) but the contract also has a clause that says I must disclose any existing inventions or ideas to the company now and that anything not enumerated belongs to them and that by not listing I am acknowledging that the invention idea was not developed or conceived before the commencement of employment.&lt;p&gt;Assuming I were to sign and return without enumerating any specifics they would own the IP to anything I&amp;#x27;ve done previous to this?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d love any advice anyone here has, but perhaps a better question would be-- Are there any &amp;quot;uber for lawyers&amp;quot; services online where I can pay to have someone with bonafides read through this for me?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>functional_test</author><text>Find an employment attorney. Pay that person for an hour or two to read the contract for you. They will be able to offer much better advice than HN.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dopamean</author><text>This is the correct answer.&lt;p&gt;I worked at a company that was acquired earlier this year and I didn&amp;#x27;t care for the new employment contract. Unfortunately, the sale was contingent on a certain percentage of the team signing the new employment contract. I had a lawyer look at the whole thing and he told me that because of the way the deal was worded I could sign and quit without affecting things.&lt;p&gt;I looked at the contracts a ton myself and basically made no sense of it. The lawyer spent a couple hours and it was a big help.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: Company got acquired, new contract seems oppressive</title><text>The company I work for (software engineer, advertising industry) was recently acquired by a larger company.&lt;p&gt;The new employment contract stipulates the usual oppressive confidential information and IP assignment things, detailing how the company owns anything I come up with. The state I&amp;#x27;m in specifically protects my rights to things I create entirely independently (outside company time and equipment) but the contract also has a clause that says I must disclose any existing inventions or ideas to the company now and that anything not enumerated belongs to them and that by not listing I am acknowledging that the invention idea was not developed or conceived before the commencement of employment.&lt;p&gt;Assuming I were to sign and return without enumerating any specifics they would own the IP to anything I&amp;#x27;ve done previous to this?&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d love any advice anyone here has, but perhaps a better question would be-- Are there any &amp;quot;uber for lawyers&amp;quot; services online where I can pay to have someone with bonafides read through this for me?</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>functional_test</author><text>Find an employment attorney. Pay that person for an hour or two to read the contract for you. They will be able to offer much better advice than HN.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ExhibitAClause2</author><text>Whats the best way to go about finding one on short notice in a generic major city?</text></comment>