Signed a contract with employer stating they own all my IP; they sent an email saying its only for competing products. Should I be worried?
<p>I recently joined a large IT company, before joining I had concerns with my contract, it states that they own all rights over what I create (from ideas, software, you name it). </p>

<p>I love making my own games, and I have a game I've worked on for over 2 years (long before I joined their company), so I did not like this part of the contract and said I could not sign unless they confirm that they won't try to take my game from me.</p>

<p>I sent an email to the recruiter (who works for that company) and asked her to confirm that point X.x of the contract is only concerning products competing with the company. 
I got the response:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>As previously highlighted you do not need to be stressed at all in
  regards to below situation with your company. As I have explained to
  you what we protect us against in the contract is competing business,
  if that was the case with yours. So I hereby can confirm below is the
  case – and that it would only be an issue if you develop a competing
  product or use our inside know how to create your business products.
  Hope that makes sense. So ALL is good.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I felt like this was enough, but now I'm about to release my game and I really don't like the wording in the contract. Will this email I have protect me from them trying to steal my game?</p>

<p>I am located in Scandinavia.</p>

<p>One can argue that <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/q/1628/10">you should always be worried</a>.  Much more so when you are addressing legal questions without the legal advice of a qualified attorney.</p>

<p>The email you got from your company <em>says something</em>.  It offers "<a href="https://law.meta.stackexchange.com/q/224/10">protection</a>" to the extent that:</p>

<ol>
<li>Your written contract doesn't have an integration clause.</li>
<li>The person who sent the email is authorized to modify the written contract.</li>
<li>The contents of the email do in fact address the concerns you have.</li>
<li>There are no laws that constrain the principles and interests at stake.</li>
</ol>

<p>Only your lawyer, paid for by you to act in your interest, could verify these questions and offer an opinion on your legal vulnerability.</p>

intellectual-property european-union