Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York
I applied for a positon at tutor.com and they require me to sign paperwork that includes the agreement about "Works made for hire" and "assignment." The particular clause that bothers me is "2.4 Assignment. Without in any way limiting the foregoing, Employee hereby irrevocably assigns to the Company all right, title and interest to all Inventions, including but not limited to patent rights." Which seems to me like they want to own anything I come up with regardles of whether or not it relates to work performed while tutoring. Is this accurate?
1 Answer from Attorneys
The default under US law is that your employer would be the rightful owner of any IP created within the scope of your employment while at work. Some employers have employees agree to terms that extend to any IP created even while not at work. Often analysis in this regards comes down to questions like was the employee on company time, using company resources, etc.
You can ask to modify the provision to limit it to say while on company time and within the scope of your employment.
If you would like to discuss further over a free phone consult, feel free to contact me anytime that is convenient.
Kind regards,
Frank
www.LanternLegal.com
866-871-8655
DISCLAIMER: this is not intended to be specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. No attorney-client relationship is formed on the basis of this posting.
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