[miffy900]

> The firm gradually grew more contentious, demanding that the RTX 5060 be handed in because the event it was acquired at was part of a business trip, entirely paid for by the company. The employee would never have won the GPU had the firm not enabled him to attend the venue. Our winner refused, arguing that it belonged to him because he had won it on his own by pure luck.

Hmm...I feel like the company's reasoning here is almost acceptable. Almost, because I know as a (paid) employee, all of the code I write, any inventions or IP I come up with are the company's property, so it almost makes sense that the company might also want to assert its right to claim that any physical things given or gifted in the course of work-related trips that employees take on company time.

but the article mentions the winner was an intern, not an employee, and I know many interns i've worked with never actually signed an employment agreement, because they dont actually get paid. They sign NDAs but not full on employment agreements, so how can any company treat them like an employee? if I wasn't getting paid, I'd 100% hold my ground like the intern did and take it.

[IAmBroom]

Doesn't matter. It's a small amount (in the eyes of the company), and is bound to feel unfair to the employee.

It's like your employer asking that you keep the pretzels on your business flights and hand them in to the office snack bar. Only ill will can come from that, and zero profit.

[salawat]

You realize you can redline the default IP assignment clauses, right? It should never have been normalized that an employer gets blanket claim to all mental output on your part. Especially things done in your off hours on equipment the company doesn't own.

It's just another example of how contract law, lawyers, and legal fictions represent a bottom up funnel of value extraction from the populace in which they exist. Can't even just work and get paid without some arsehole driving/hiding behind a legal fiction strip mining you for all the law will let them get away with.