Members Ani Posted December 24, 2006 Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 Just curious as to whether or not anyone has any input on what it's like to work for a company owned by Bill Gates... not necessarily Microsoft. Anyone have the inside scoop as to how he treats his employees/contractors in regards to intellectual property ownership? Any horror stories about getting screwed over, raw deals in contracts, theft of IP, and etc.... Any GOOD experiences are encouraged as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted December 24, 2006 Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 I've heard stories all over the map. I can tell you one thing... being one of the original 'Softies from the 70s or early 80s and being a "temporary" hire in the 21st century is, like, two different life forms in two different universes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tedster Posted December 24, 2006 Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 No, but someone I know used to work for Ollie Gates... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super 8 Posted December 24, 2006 Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 A friend of mine just did some work for Microsoft. I don't know what it was. He's not a computer guy, he's actually a former animator for Disney who got let go when Disney decided they weren't interested in cartoons anymore. I don't know what his experience with MS was. I know they offered to have him stay, but he turned it down because he didn't want to relocate to the MS headquarters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted December 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 Thanks for the input so far. I recently learned that Corbis, the stock photo agency, was owned, and I believe, founded by Bill Gates. In what little spare time I have throughout the Chrismas rush season, I've been organizing my photos by category types and best shots vs. not so best shots in order to prepare a web site showcasing my materials. Some of your more popular stock photo agencies call for your URL to online photos in their submission policy guidelines, so I've been seriously considering putting together a full scale gallery divided by categories online for that purpose. I have two friends that are professionally involved in photography that insist that I'm going about marketing photography the "hard way" by publishing and soliciting my own materials. One travels the world and freelances for National Geographic and the other does sports and fashion photography. Both recommend contracting with an agent to free up spare time for photo shoots. They are both SO correct about the administrative end being time consuming and depriving the creative end of the works. I guess I'm a bit gunshy when it comes to agencies, because years ago I applied at one of the world's largest greeting cards manufacturers that's Headquartered out of Kansas City. They did not accept freelance artists, and accepting full time employment as a staff artist meant assigning ownership rights to ALL of your materials copyrighted during employment with them and within 5 years after employment to THEM. I walked away from an offer like that, never to look back. There was just something about assigning control over all of my creativity to one entity; even works that they did not publish, such as songwriting, would have become their property due to the poetic nature of song lyrics. Corbis outlines a very promising career as a stock photographer if chosen, and I've always thought their photographers operated on a freelance basis.... I've yet to learn otherwise. Any insight would be helpful... Corbis also talks about a group registration process for copyright... anyone familiar with that and would you recommend looking into it further? $40.00 a pop for copyright registration could get extremely expensive when talking about hundreds to thousands of photos... unless you registered the works as individual collections... and even still??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted December 24, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 Originally posted by Tedster No, but someone I know used to work for Ollie Gates... :D Sorry, but Wabash is much better than Gates. When I can't make it out to Ex Spgs.... then I go to Arthur Bryants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gdoubleyou Posted December 24, 2006 Members Share Posted December 24, 2006 My wife works for Microsoft, she's a MBA, not a techie. Works from home negotiating contracts. They are quite generous with pay and benifits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ani Posted December 25, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Thank you gdoubleyou. This is an excerpt from Corbis' F.A.Q. sheet, would your wife be familiar with any conflicts of interest relative to assignment of rights between Corbis, or any other MS Corp that uses the bulk registration process, and the creator? Why do I have to assign Corbis my copyright for registration purposes? Is Corbis going to be listed as the owner in the registration documents? First, remember that the Corbis Copyright Registration Program is completely voluntary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mats Nermark Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Hi, I haven't volontarily worked for Microsoft. What happened was that they included one of my tunes in their download package of MediPlayer9 (MP9) without my permission. Actually without even asking. When I found out I called the swedish Mocrosoft office asking them about it. They connected me to their marketing department where a man listened to me for app 4 minutes and asked to call back. A few minutes later a lawyer from one of the most expensive firms called and asked me not to continue my requests and absolutely forbid me to mention that Microsoft was one of my customers. When I asked for monetary compensation he asked for proof. My friend who had downloaded the MP9 package had just had a hard disk crash and lost the download file. So as I couldn't prove anything right off the bat I ahd to contact a lawyer of my own. As it is forbidden for swedish lawyers to do contingency deals I had to fork out $500 for them to wirte a letter. Then I found out that if I wanted the lawyer to read the answer from MicroSoft that would be another $350. I could see what it would do to my economy so I had to let it go. Cheers, Mats N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Magpel Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 In fact I may have once, at quite a remove: contractor to a contractor to an MS contractor. Just a touch of editing work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Originally posted by Ani I guess I'm a bit gunshy when it comes to agencies, because years ago I applied at one of the world's largest greeting cards manufacturers that's Headquartered out of Kansas City. They did not accept freelance artists, and accepting full time employment as a staff artist meant assigning ownership rights to ALL of your materials copyrighted during employment with them and within 5 years after employment to THEM.The part in red really bugs me. Are you sure that is true? I have an intense hatred for these types of clauses (assuming you are not mistaken). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Originally posted by Super 8 I don't know what his experience with MS was. I know they offered to have him stay, but he turned it down because he didn't want to relocate to the MS headquarters. India? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Originally posted by gdoubleyou My wife works for Microsoft, she's a MBA, not a techie.Works from home negotiating contracts. Originally posted by Mats Nermark What happened was that they included one of my tunes in their download package of MediPlayer9 (MP9) without my permission. Actually without even asking.Excuse me for juxtapositioning posts in an uncomfortable way so as to cause friction between forumites - but I have a question for gdoubleyou Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorePaul Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by Jon Gnash The part in red really bugs me. Are you sure that is true?I have an intense hatred for these types of clauses (assuming you are not mistaken). It could be both true and (often) not enforcible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jon Gnash Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by MorePaul It could be both true and (often) not enforcible Yep. Good point. I was going to mention the same thing - no kidding. Employers (and Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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