My current employer has an "I own you contract". The wording was very ambiguous so I didn't understand it when I signed it. Needless to say, I have left this company and will be looking for a new job.
Which companies that you know of have the same policy so I know not to waste my time with them? Any of the big names (Adobe, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, etc.)?
EDIT: My company thinks it owns anything I make on my own time using my own equipment. Non-competes I am fine with.
Most will I suspect, unless you can negotiate from a position of strength. Best to try and get some choices on the table before having to commit to one. In my experience most employers and contract clients have tried to bake in a clause saying everything period. However in most cases it was simply due to over zealous lawyereze and could be negotiated against. I have walked away from (only a couple of) interviews where this was not negotiable.
You could your employer to make it more specific, for example ask them some ridiculous examples - e.g. if you program a trip into your GPS system, do the own it? Program a macro in a game, etc. What I'm trying to say is that the language may be ambiguous, and by getting it clarified you might put yourself in a position where you can argue the toss about whether stuff done on your own time on your own equipment is not theirs.
Everyone I've worked with had that in the contract, except a company for whom I was maintaining a Free Software library as part of my job. I'm mainly talking about salaried posts in the UK but can also include contract work for US-based companies in that summary. My experience is that every time I've questioned it I've been able to get the clause modified or removed, so don't look on it as a deal-breaker.