[drpgq]

"and get our major employers here to knock it off with their ridiculous IP agreements"

What's Pennsylvania like for non-competes? I often think what a state or province could do for startups would be to shift to California style non-competes.

[kom107]

Agreed. I've just gone about it by refusing to sign the IP agreements, OR by editing the document to say that anything I do on my own time is mine. Have yet to run into an issue with those approaches.

I wonder how much innovation here is stifled because there are still only a handful of major employers, and all of them have blanket IP agreements. Frankly, if I was running UPMC, PNC, or Highmark, I'd set up a VC arm and encourage any employee with a good idea (related to the industry) to start a company with seed capital from the VC arm. UPMC is KIND OF doing this (I work for them now), but they're not quite there yet, and it doesn't seem like current employees can swing over there to start their own company easily. Still, I think they're headed down the right path.

[johnward]

The one I had to sign for IBM in Pittsburgh basically says they own everything I do, even in my time away from my job. It's pretty ridiculous.