A plea for a proper balance of proprietary rights

Blanket agreements between employers and employees, requiring the latter to relinquish in advance any claims to any ideas springing up during the term of employment, are considered illegal and against public policy in most highly industrialized countries-with the notable exceptions of the United States and Great Britain. In the author's opinion, these agreements are eminently unfair to the creative individual; moreover, since they tend to discourage innovation, they have a broad crippling effect on a nation's technological advancement.