IANAL. However, as an industrial researcher in CS, the standard is this. Once you patent your work, the company is okay with you publishing. There are exceptions. There is a story (no idea if true of not) that the folks who published the dynamo paper almost got fired. Some ideas are so important to the business that they may not be patented and just reserved a trade secret. All of this is negotiable and often done on a case by case basis. Most employers I've had have a standard reviewing process where the researchers submit the paper (to be submitted) and we get an approval that it is okay to publish. There is typically a checkbox that asks if you sought protection for any IP in the paper, etc.
Thanks, very helpful perspective. Once a paper is reviewed and approved, are there any rights around being able to present that paper at a conference?
I'm trying to understand what kind of legal transformation takes place one a paper on a non-patented methodology is released. I've skimmed the dynamo paper and it seems a good analogy in that it's about general database architecture concepts, rather than the specific implementation at Amazon. I might be wrong though as I haven't read it deeply.
For example, let's say you're the primary author of a paper and then later leave the company. Can there by any legal restriction preventing you or others who have never worked at the company from giving a conference presentation on that paper once published?
