[iamgilesbowkett]

"don't use your employer's computer off-hours when working on your own projects"

California law protects individual side projects extremely well. I am not a lawyer, I could be wrong, but I believe these concerns are absolutely irrelevant in California. Relevant elsewhere, but not here.

[fizx]

    2870.  (a) Any provision in an employment agreement which provides that 
    an employee shall assign, or offer to assign, any of his or her rights
    in an invention to his or her employer shall not apply to an invention 
    that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without 
    using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities ...

"without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities"

[ktizo]

Doesn't count. AOL was not his employer.

[mbreese]

It's your employer's computer. Even in California you cannot use your employers resources for side projects and still be protected. They can't make a claim on your free time, but if you use their computer, you open yourself up to claims.

I'm not a lawyer either, but that was always the advice I've been given.

Now this kid was just dumb. By using AOL resources without permission he now has all sorts of potential issues. Probably the only thing that kept him out of jail was the good will of AOL.

[rexreed]

Only if you have an employment contract. Simply using someone else's network or power or resources or air conditioning or free beer or shower doesn't grant the owner of that resource any claim to your intellectual property. They can only make a claim for expenses, damages, loss of revenues, etc. that can be directly traced from illicit use of those resources.

[jayp]

even in california, it is highly recommended that one not use work-provided resources for your side projects if you have even the smallest intentions of commercialising them.