Generally people do obnoxious things like this for three reasons.
1. They are a bunch of jerks.
1a. Legal counsel within the organization is too strong.
2. Their counsel advised them to seek the most advantageous terms for the company possible.
3. It's something to haggle over that isn't money.
IP is a murky area from a litigation perspective. Its difficult to distinguish intellectual things created outside vs. inside, so the "solution" from a lawyers pov is to buy all of your intellectual property. (ie the lawyer version of "Kill them all, let God sort them out.") Since employers have a lot of leverage, and employees who aren't collectivelly bargaining are usually scared/too lazy to negotiate, it usually works out.
1. They are a bunch of jerks. 1a. Legal counsel within the organization is too strong. 2. Their counsel advised them to seek the most advantageous terms for the company possible. 3. It's something to haggle over that isn't money.
IP is a murky area from a litigation perspective. Its difficult to distinguish intellectual things created outside vs. inside, so the "solution" from a lawyers pov is to buy all of your intellectual property. (ie the lawyer version of "Kill them all, let God sort them out.") Since employers have a lot of leverage, and employees who aren't collectivelly bargaining are usually scared/too lazy to negotiate, it usually works out.