Does an employer have rights to inventions you create while an employee but outside of work (personal dvlmnt)?
From contract:
D. DISCLOSURE OF DEVELOPMENTS TO THE COMPANY
As used in this Agreement, “Developments” mean any Proprietary Information
consisting of any work of authorship, discovery, improvement, invention, design, graphic, source, HTML and other code, trade secret, technology, algorithms, computer program, audio, video or other files or content, idea, design, process, technique, know-how and data, whether or not patentable or copyrightable. I agree to maintain adequate and current written records and if requested, promptly disclose in writing to my immediate supervisor or as otherwise designated by the Company, all Developments, made, discovered, conceived, reduced to practice or developed by me, either alone or jointly with others. I will not disclose developments covered by this Section D to any person outside the Company unless I am requested to do so by management personnel of the Company. Moreover, I will promptly disclose in writing to the Company’s Chief Executive Officer all discoveries, developments, designs, ideas, improvements, inventions, formulas, processes, techniques, know-how, and data (whether or not patentable or registrable under copyright or similar statutes) made, conceived, reduced to practice, or learned by me (either alone or jointly with others) within six (6) months after the termination of my employment with the company (unless any such disclosure is prohibited by the terms of a commercially reasonable non-disclosure agreement signed by the Individual that is meant to protect the trade secrets and confidentiality of a subsequent employer), that are related to the business (present or future) of the Company, or which result from tasks assigned to me by the Company or from the use of facilities or equipment owned, leased, or otherwise used by the Company.
E. OWNERSHIP OF DEVELOPMENTS
1. Generally
I agree that all Developments which I make, discover, conceive, reduce to practice or develop (in whole or in part, either alone or jointly with others) during my employment and in the scope of my employment shall be the sole property of the Company as described in Section E.2 to the maximum extent permitted by law.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Yes. It is while under their employ you created the said ‘invention’. If you ‘invented’ it outside of their employ, you can patent it and charge the industry for use of the invention, your current employer included.
You have to understand, when you’re working for a company, they take credit for everything you do, and PAY you for what you do. The same way Craftsman or Makita do not take credit for you building a house. They are tools as you are in the workplace.
What you can do, if owning your own company is out of the question in this field, is request you get personal recognition within your company for creating the invention. At least you have backing when you toss your resume’ around. Keep copies (or originals) your design plans for verification, too.
Peace.
T