Also, understand your local/state laws. Sometimes an employer will ask for something that goes against state laws but is part of their boilerplate contracts for studios in multiple states. For example, this type of IP assignment is unenforceable in California. But, it is still best to get it removed from the contract to avoid any future complications, such as if you transfer to another company studio in another state.

Ultimately, the best option is still to get a lawyer to look things over. It’ll cost a bit of cash, but better safe than sorry in the long run. You never know where life will take you in the future, as Darius points out.

You can only negotiate contract wording BEFORE you sign it.

My past experience read a lot like that Onstartups answer – I asked the company to further clarify the “business of the company”, which we narrowed down to a large subsection of video games. I was then free to work on things I wanted outside of that definition. We also put in a review process in case I wanted to work on something in that area, and they weren’t interested in it.

All of which sums up to – you can definitely negotiate. Don’t be scared to.

Basically, IP assignment clauses are there to protect the company, and a good lawyer won’t take them out. Generally, it’s a shield clause, not a sword clause, because it’s hard to prove what you did or didn’t do in your spare time, while you were at / away from the company.

One thing you can do, if getting smacked with a “you don’t work for broadly-defined competitors for X months” is to say that if they really want to leave that in, they should feel free to compensate you up front with a lump-sum payment for the time you won’t be able to work in your chosen field. Given that this is a totally fair thing to ask for, you are still being reasonable while at the same time protecting your prerogatives.