Assignment of Inventions Agreement
An assignment of invention agreement is a provision or separate document that "assigns" to the company any inventions or new discoveries made by an employee or independent contractor during the course and scope of his or employment or work for hire. While there are certain legal arguments that "constructively" infer and apply this assignment regardless of whether a written assignment exists, the conservative and usually recommended approach for individuals who might be in such positions is to have a written assignment of inventions agreement. In fact, the absence of such an agreement - including the refusal to sign one compared with other employees who did sign - can be evidence that an assignment should not be inferred and that it was expressly rejected by the individual. See, e.g., Banks v. Unisys, 228 F.3d 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2000) (applying general rule that an employee owns patent and invention rights unless a written contract expressly transfers such rights or an implied-in-fact contract exists; here, no such contracts existed where employee did not sign assignment of inventions agreement when hired and later failed to sign other agreements presented to him and employer did not insist upon signing).
An example of a simple Assignment of Inventions Agreement is attached to this material as "Attachment C." Rather than being used as a separate agreement, it can also be incorporated into a larger employment, confidentiality or noncompetition agreement.
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