snowyowlster
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Maryland (residence)
Employer is in Virginia
When I joined my present employer - I filled out an IPR and Confidentiality agreement assigning rights to any new inventions to my employer. At the end of the agreement was an area for previously developed inventions/programs.
I filled this area with a description of a program that I had written and was actually marketing before employment.
Now 1 year later, I want to patent the techniques used in that software program. I am continuing to market this program and want to get some IPR protection.
Am I protected - or will my employer have rights to the invention ??
My company is a very good employer and the work I am doing for the company (marketing) has minimal connection with the techniques used in the software.
See assignment agreement and attachment below
(a) Ownership: I agree that COMPANY shall own, and I hereby grant to COMPANY, all right, title and interest in and to all proprietary rights, including but not limited to copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, in all work product, developments, inventions, or other materials produced by me (“Works”) which refer to or result from my work for COMPANY during my employment by COMPANY and which relate to COMPANY's current, anticipated, or prospective business activities –
(1) whether I developed the Works alone or jointly with others, including both other employees of COMPANY or its customers or prospective customers;
(2) whether or not the Works took place during regular working hours; and
(3) whether or not the Works results in any inventions that are patentable or eligible for copyright protection.
Attachment A –
Employee Inventions, Software Programs, and Mask Works
Listed and described below are all inventions (including patent applications, serial numbers or patent numbers, as appropriate) and computer software programs and mask works (e.g., semiconductor and integrated circuit designs) which I individually or jointly conceived and made before my employment by COMPANY to which COMPANY has no claims, further not included on this list is anything I may have developed which is owned by a prior employer:
Employer is in Virginia
When I joined my present employer - I filled out an IPR and Confidentiality agreement assigning rights to any new inventions to my employer. At the end of the agreement was an area for previously developed inventions/programs.
I filled this area with a description of a program that I had written and was actually marketing before employment.
Now 1 year later, I want to patent the techniques used in that software program. I am continuing to market this program and want to get some IPR protection.
Am I protected - or will my employer have rights to the invention ??
My company is a very good employer and the work I am doing for the company (marketing) has minimal connection with the techniques used in the software.
See assignment agreement and attachment below
(a) Ownership: I agree that COMPANY shall own, and I hereby grant to COMPANY, all right, title and interest in and to all proprietary rights, including but not limited to copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, in all work product, developments, inventions, or other materials produced by me (“Works”) which refer to or result from my work for COMPANY during my employment by COMPANY and which relate to COMPANY's current, anticipated, or prospective business activities –
(1) whether I developed the Works alone or jointly with others, including both other employees of COMPANY or its customers or prospective customers;
(2) whether or not the Works took place during regular working hours; and
(3) whether or not the Works results in any inventions that are patentable or eligible for copyright protection.
Attachment A –
Employee Inventions, Software Programs, and Mask Works
Listed and described below are all inventions (including patent applications, serial numbers or patent numbers, as appropriate) and computer software programs and mask works (e.g., semiconductor and integrated circuit designs) which I individually or jointly conceived and made before my employment by COMPANY to which COMPANY has no claims, further not included on this list is anything I may have developed which is owned by a prior employer: