Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Texas

Re: Patent Infringement

How about challenging the patent the ex-employer has on the basis that the patent rights were not signed over to the employer? Transference of such rights, to be legal, must be done in writing. On the other hand, you could simply go ahead and develop the software and see if he challenges you on the basis of patent infringement. If he does, then you can simply show that he has no signed document which transfers the patent rights to him. Usually, however, when an employer has its employees develop something for them, they have the employees sign an agreement beforehand that says the patent rights, or intellectual property rights, belong to the employer. Hope this helps a little.