What business can I start if I have a invention assignment agreement with my current company?
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What business can I start if I have a invention assignment agreement with my current company?
I want to build a website that connects businesses to
sell to one another and this would improve the
current business practices. How can I do that here
in CA if I signed a invention assignment agreement
with my employer and I don’t want to build that
business and they take it from me?
Asked on August 12, 2016 under Business Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
Invention assignments are enforceable; while you need to review the specific terms of *this* agreement to know what you can and cannot do (assignments are contracts; all contracts are governed by their own specific terms), you should assume that anything you invent or develop which is covered under the agreement's terms will belong to your employer. Therefore, if want to development something that would otherwise have to be assigned to them, you will have to leave employment first (but check the agreement to see if it also coveres inventions made some time after employment ends).
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