Intellectual property rights (in this case, copyright or patent) accrue only under certain circumstances. Here in a nutshell is how it works. Copyright protects creative expressions that are fixed in a tangible medium (so an idea in someone's head doesn't qualify). Patent law protects ideas, but you have to disclose them in a formal filing, and the idea has to be original and useful. An employer could, under the right conditions, own a copyright or patent over something that an employee creates. But in neither case could that happen if the only place the idea existed was in someone's head. I haven't read the article in question so I don't know the facts, but I'll bet there is something more than an idea in an employee's head.
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Intellectual property rights (in this case, copyright or patent) accrue only under certain circumstances. Here in a nutshell is how it works. Copyright protects creative expressions that are fixed in a tangible medium (so an idea in someone's head doesn't qualify). Patent law protects ideas, but you have to disclose them in a formal filing, and the idea has to be original and useful. An employer could, under the right conditions, own a copyright or patent over something that an employee creates. But in neither case could that happen if the only place the idea existed was in someone's head. I haven't read the article in question so I don't know the facts, but I'll bet there is something more than an idea in an employee's head.