Post-Employment Inventions Time Limit

[Conrad Hunter]

That contract is not enforceable in any state that I know of. It is contrary to public policy and is not equitable.
Thus it is not enforceable.

Now, if the idea or patent is derived from something you invented or worked on while you were employed, there, they would have an argument.

Also, if you are required to sign such an agreement after already being employed for a period of time, and you are not provided with significant compensation, then the contract is without consideration and is not enforceable. If the only consideration is keeping your job, that is under duresss, and can't be enforced.

Courts will not enforce contracts that are inequitable or that have no consideration, or contracts that are contrary to public policy.

Claiming copyright to anything you write or create is really out in left field. I have NEVER read a single case in any state that upheld such a contract at the appeals level.

Software is not a patent issue. You can write any software you want and copyright it.

If you are paranoid, form a corporation and copyright it in the name of the corporation. No company, no matter how big they are, is going to use or have the resources to research backwards every piece of software or whatever registered by some corporation somewhere. So what if they do, they have no claim. Most absurd thing I ever heard in employment law.

Most employment contracts with non-compete clauses are illegal, much less any claiming patent or copyright claims to work produced by a former employee for a year or more afterwards.

ANY employment attorney or anyone at all. Show me one flipping case on the appeals level in ANY STATE where anything so absurd was upheld and was never overturned.

I would never sign such an agreement. Do not quit or give them any other cause. If they fire you over that, you have a good shot at significant damages. You would want to get the opinion of employment lawyers in your state before making any irreversible decisions.

[antrc170]

[QUOTE=Conrad Hunter;614847]

That contract is not enforceable in any state that I know of. It is contrary to public policy and is not equitable.
Thus it is not enforceable.

The contract is very much enforcable in ANY state.

Also, if you are required to sign such an agreement after already being employed for a period of time, and you are not provided with significant compensation, then the contract is without consideration and is not enforceable. If the only consideration is keeping your job, that is under duresss, and can't be enforced.

Companies can and do create new policy and procedures after employees are hired. If the company requires that they read and abide by such policies, the company can demand that the employee sign an acknowledgement and acceptance of such policies. It's common practice. The employee can also decline and accept the consequences.

I have NEVER read a single case in any state that upheld such a contract at the appeals level.

Then you are not well read. I'll provide a few that you may puruse where the courts upheld non-compete clauses. Five different court upheld the non-compete from five different states. I'm sure you can google the remaining 45 to find their court rulings on the issue.

Brainware, Inc. v. Mahan, 1:11cv470 (LMB/TCB) (E.D. Va., Aug. 24, 2011)
TEKsystems, Inc. v. Bolton, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9651 (February 4, 2010).
Alex Sheshunoff Mgmt. Servs., L.P. v. Johnson, 209 S.W.3d 644 (Tex. 2006).
Steam Sales Corp. v. Summers, 31 IER Cases 770 (Ill. App. 2010)
Hoffnagle v. Henderson, 2002 Conn. Super. LEXIS 901

[EliteHacker]

I did read that Colorado had recently enacted a rule that keeping your job was now considered adequate consideration for them forcing you to sign during employment. It appears in some areas that Colorado is leaning towards the supply side. Many of the high tech corporations that I have worked for are in Colorado. That was my main concern about the time limits. The last one in Colorado was in 2001. The very last one was in Wyoming for about three months long which was in software development ending very late in 2006.

Can these places actually hold you in chains for an indefinite amount of time, life? I find it hard to believe anything beyond two or three years but I do have butterfly concern as I proceed forward. Is my time finally finished where I should no longer have to give it another thought as I build my software company?

THANKS TO ALL WHO POST INFO AND ADVICE !

EliteHacker

[landar]

I sought counsel from an employment lawyer and had him read over the contract. The contract is not all that unusual but is a bit 'broad' and 'overreaching' in some areas. The agreement is enforceable but it seems that I would have to be grossly in violation like producing a competing product for them to request an injuction. The company does not have to provide any compensation beyond continued employment. Basically they have you over a barrel and there is nothing you do about it short of quitting the job. My company knows this. What they do not know is that by taking a hard stance, refusing even the slightest change, they have seriously hurt the morale of the dept. While it is legal, it is not a super smart move to strong-arm your thinking employees.

@EliteHacker...a company will probably only come after you if you are a serious threat to their current business. It costs a considerable amount of lawyer money to do anything so that is a deterent on both sides. "Fly under the radar" and you are likely ok.

The posts by antrc170 seem to have been right on the mark. Thanks!

[Conrad Hunter]

I was talking about rights to inventions after employment ends. I was not talking about a non-compete agreement. They really are different things.