Relating to employment agreements assigning rights to inventions by employees and including applicability provisions

This bill provides that any provision of an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign or offer to assign any of the employee’s rights to an invention, as defined in the bill, to the employer shall not apply to an invention for which equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information of the employer was not used and which was developed entirely on the employee’s own time, unless specified conditions apply. A provision of an employment agreement in violation of the bill is void and unenforceable. The bill prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to enter into such an employment agreement as a condition of employment. If an employment agreement contains a provision requiring the employee to assign any of the employee’s rights to any invention to the employer, the bill requires an employer to provide, at the time the agreement is made, a written notification to the employee of the employee’s rights provided under the bill. The bill requires an employee to disclose to an employer, at the time of employment or thereafter, all inventions developed by the employee, for the purpose of determining employer and employee rights to an invention. The bill applies to employment contracts entered into on or after the effective date of the bill.