DescriptionInvention assignment agreements by state.svg
English: As of September 15, 2023, eleven U.S. states ban employment contracts requiring employees to assign intellectual property rights for inventions that the employees develop on their own time and using their own resources. These laws generally stipulate that the employee retains the intellectual property rights to an invention or creative work they create during their employment as long as the creation is:
Created on the employee's own time and without using any resources (including equipment, trade secrets, etc.) belonging to the employer
Not related to the employer's business, or to the employer's actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development; and
Not derived from any work done by the employee for the employer
Legend:
Employee retains IP created outside of work
No such restriction on employee invention assignment agreements
to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 truetrue
Captions
Map of U.S. states with restrictions on employee invention assignment agreements