Company Ownership of Employee Ideas

Anonymous Coward writes "Alcatel USA Inc. filed a lawsuit, and won, in a bid to claim proprietary rights for a software idea of one of its former employees, Evan Brown. Evan signed a invention disclosure agreement with his former employers but what makes this case unusual is that Evan never wrote anything down with regards to his idea, meaning that Alcatel seems to be claiming rights to an idea in his head. Does this mean your thoughts may belong to your company? Maybe...." This story has been kicking around for a few days but this is the first legal analysis I've seen of it. Watch what you sign! J adds: see also recent TR story and our 1999 story.

Comments

Solution: Move to California

[adam_megacz]

California Labor Code, section 2870 states that no matter what you signed, your employer cannot claim ownership of intellectual property which:

• you created entirely on your own time
• you created entirely with your own equiptment
• is not directly related to your employer's business, or demonstrable future business plans (ie ideas currently in development).

Speak your mind about IP agreements

[signe]

IEEE has an Intellectual Property Committee that researches and investigates IP laws and agreements and such. They often propose policy to the government (US, specifically).

One of the things they're working on right now is collecting information and opinions on pre-assignment agreements (these are the agreements that you're asked to sign at the start of employment, or a contract, which assign all rights to the company you're working for. I highly suggest that everyone who has a strong view go to http://ieeeusa.org/committees/IPC/ and read the information they have and make comments using the form on that page.

-Todd