I've gone through this before, but never to this level... I had a Purchasing Agent from a large DOD contractor contact me the other day, and say they would like to purchase something (would like a quote). She attached an 'approved vendor' form 5 pages long, and a 'terms & conditions' piece that's 11 pages long. I stopped reading about half a page in, because only a room full of layers could actually get anything meaningful out of it. But it's loaded with gems, such as...
"If this Order is not placed under a U.S.
Government contract or subcontract, Buyer shall
have full ownership and rights, including patent
rights, to all inventions, data, designs, computer
software and information (“Inventions”)
conceived, made or developed under this Order."
Ironically the one thing that was not stated anywhere in everything they gave me, was the amount they wanted to order. Turns out they just want two items totaling $140. But all this stuff signed would apply to all future deals... Something they conveniently forget to mention.
I've dealt with DOD contractors before, but why on earth would anybody agree to all this to sell $140 of stuff? I could see if it was a single deal worth thousands or something. The Purchasing person acts like it's no big deal. The arrogance of some of these big corporations is amazing.
