Bill Proposes Protections for Employee Inventions

A bill (A2493) introduced in the Assembly on March 11 seeks to protect employee rights to ownership and usage of employee inventions developed entirely on an employee’s own time and without using the employer’s resources. The bill would invalidate provisions in employment contracts entered into after the effective date of the Act that require the assignment of any such inventions, unless the invention: (1) relates to the employer’s business or “actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development” or (2) results from any work performed by the employee on behalf of the employer. The bill further provides that if an employee offers to sell all or part of the rights to an invention to his or her employer, the employer shall have no more than nine months to accept or reject the offer. If the employer does not accept, it shall be barred from any further opportunities to acquire any of the rights to that invention.