[gameshot911]

I'm not sure I understand what the fuss is all about. The language is included to avoid a situation where a user suggests an idea (that may or may not have already been planned / considered / in development), and then wants to get paid when the feature is eventually released. Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

[dtech]

He has a problem with the transfer of IP. He quotes a ToS clause from another company with grants a perpetual free license to your idea, which he has no problem with.

With the "transfer-style" clause you could submit an idea, an then be sued if you use your own idea yourself. That indeed seems strange.

[6d0debc071]

As written, if you suggest something, it seems to me that they'd own the idea - and you wouldn't be able to use them yourself.

'... all right, title and interest in and to ... including all associated IP Rights...'

While it may be intended to protect them, that's hardly justification for such a sweeping transfer. Less total licensing could have been worked out.

Indeed - there's an example of such in the article:

'... shall have a royalty-free, worldwide, transferable, and perpetual license to use or incorporate into the Service any suggestions, ideas, enhancement requests, feedback, or other information...'

[Silhouette]

You can easily solve that problem by claiming some sort of non-exclusive licence without claiming the underlying IP. Web sites built around user-generated content do this all the time, for example.

Attempting to grab the IP itself is either careless drafting or a hostile act. Either way it looks bad for the company doing it.