You May Have Invented It, but You Don't Own It

Here is a great article on startup skills:

What critical legal agreement between you and your employer can most profoundly impact the future of your startup? The "Invention Assignment Agreement". This is an important agreement that your employer may have asked you to sign. It requires you to assign all ownership rights of inventions conceived, developed, or commercialized to your employer. Even if you didn’t sign one, any patent to any technology you invent automatically belongs to your employer. Similarly, the copyright to any work you create while employed that conceivably relates to your employe's primary business may also belong to them. In many states, an invention assignment agreement applies even to inventions created on your own time. California does not allow this, unless the invention applies to work or research performed in relation to work done at the employer.

This is a very timely article for me as I've decided to leave my current company to move on to new challenges. One of the things I'm always amazed by in this process is the invention assignment clause that any new company wants you to sign. It's important to pay attention to these things, especially if you live outside of California.