Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Washington

The answer to your question will be largely influenced by any agreements you have between you and the university and between you and the private organization.

Often, companies and universities will require contractors and/or employees to sign invention assignment agreements or have similar such language in their employment agreements. These agreements typically require the contractor/employee to assign inventions to the hiring entity that were created using the entity's resources or during normal business hours.

You will want to review any and all employment agreements/manuals you received from both the university and private organization for this kind of language.

If this is a path you would like to take. It would be recommended that you do not utilize any of the university's or the private organization's resources and perform all development work on time you are not being paid by either the university or the private organization (i.e., not during business hours).

Kind regards,

James

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