GitHub, the code-sharing platform announced a new policy, the Balanced Employee IP Agreement (BEIPA). This allows its employees to use company equipment to work on personal projects in their free time, which can occur during work hours, without fear of being sued for the IP. As long as the work isn’t related to GitHub’s own “existing or prospective” products and services, the employee owns it.
In some US states, it’s not uncommon for contracts to give companies full ownership of all work employees produce during their tenure, and sometimes even before and after their tenure, regardless of when or how they produce it.
As such, GitHub’s new agreement doesn’t explicitly state that employees can use company time to develop their own IP, but does say employees can own any work they produce in their “free time.”
GitHub hopes BEIPA will become a new industry standard, and the industry seems ready for a change.
[Source]
