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>>In my Considered Opinion and Working Experience, if you (as an employee or contractor) sign an agreement which states that any and all code written for the company is sole property of the company (or something like that), you cannot take a physical copy of it. (Ideas and thoughts are a grey area). I've worked for several companies that required me to sign such agreements. Things that I look for are:
>> Does the company own the Intellectual rights?
>>That the agreement is only binding from the date signed to the last day of paid work.
>>That outside code is exempt from the agreement.
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>>Craig Berntson stated (I believe) that the agreement is only binding if signed at the begining and end of work but in my experience that is not true. Laws vary from state to state. The best answer is to have a lawyer (Specializing inComputer Contracts) look at the agreement PRIOR to signing it. The agreements are drawn up by company lawyers so they favor the company. If you don't like the agreement, have it changed and get the company rep to agree to it and sign it.
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>> Free Legal Advice (Even from a Lawyer) is worth every Penny you Paid for it.
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>So, if you signed several of these agreements, were you using a framework owned by the client each time? Or were you adapting a framework consisting of code that you owned, which you refined at home on your own time?

The couple of times I was required to use preexisting frame works, they were owned by the company and I did not take a copy it when I left. I have had only one company's agreement allow me to retain ownership of code written outside of company control and that was the only place I brought in outside code to use. As I move from place to place, programming requirements are so varied that very little of what I've written for one company works for another. Code that can be used, I can recreate relatively quick and is using a little better. Agreements shouldn't allow companies to maintain Intellectual Property. It can be a very grey area and hard to defend against infrigments.

If you asking if I lost code I've written that could be used on other projects? Yes. Is the code irreplacable? No, I wrote it once, I can write it again quicker and better on someone else's dime/time. This brings up a point about NonDisclosure/Company Confidential/Company owned agreements, if a company wants you to sign an agreement you find too binding, just point out that the company is paying you to rewrite code you have already written (and tested) once before which if their agreement wasn't so binding, you could use to bring their project to completion quicker.