Comment by mathattack

Companies definitely have to be careful about not coming too heavy handed. Many states also have protections for side projects.

Even still, if you start a project that is very similar to your day job, you’re asking for trouble. Imagine you are the CEO and someone says, “Our intern is open sourcing something very similar to our core product.” That will always look bad and cause a reaction. How heavy handed the reaction is will vary, but every company will react.