The Right to Build

A clearer policy for personal projects.

Our proposal for employers and lawmakers. The full draft below needs legal review before use.

Ownership

Let people own their personal work.

Employees should own projects made outside assigned duties and paid work time, using their own equipment and no company secrets, code, or private data.

Employers keep their rights to assigned work and work made with company resources.

Conflicts

Require a specific reason.

An employer should identify a conflict tied to assigned duties, protected information, or an actual product or research project before restricting personal work.

Being in the same industry, or possibly entering a market someday, should not be enough.

Open source

Allow personal contributions.

Employees should be free to contribute on their own time without sharing company code or secrets, or claiming to speak for their employer.

Notice and retaliation

Explain the rules. Protect the worker.

Put ownership rules, review steps, and appeals in writing. Do not punish employees for creating, publishing, selling, or taking credit for protected personal work.

Read the full proposed policy

Right to Personal Building and Publication An individual shall retain ownership of any software, application, tool, creative work, invention, design, business, open-source contribution, or technical service created independently, outside assigned working time, without use of the employer's confidential information, trade secrets, private customer data, protected intellectual property, or employer-provided systems, equipment, or facilities. An employer may not require assignment, transfer, waiver, license, disclosure, approval, or non-publication of such independent work unless the employer can identify a specific conflict tied to assigned duties, protected confidential information, trade secrets, or an actual product, service, or research project of the employer. A broad reference to the employer's industry, market, anticipated business, or general area of interest shall not be sufficient by itself to establish ownership or prohibit publication. Nothing in this section limits an employer's rights in assigned work, works made within the scope of employment, trade secrets, confidential information, customer data, or work created using employer resources. An employer may not retaliate against an employee for creating, publishing, selling, supporting, licensing, or publicly identifying with protected independent work.