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Subject:Confidentiality and Inventions From:"Moore, Tracey" <TMoore -at- PARKERVISION -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 8 Jan 1999 17:36:25 -0500
I'm curious: In confidentiality contracts, there are usually statements
about copyrights and inventions, requiring the employee to disclose all
of their rights to inventions to the company. Sometimes the company
wants you to assign your rights to them for past inventions, and any
inventions during employment and usually for some period after
employment. There is usually some terminology referring to "inventions
which relate in any way to the present or prospect fields of interest of
said company" or the like.
My question is: If I do something like, write a song and copyright the
music/lyrics, or come up with a new idea for content on a web site (of
course, all hypothetical!), can a company come back and say, "Hey, that
belongs to me because that's a prospective field of interest of our
company?"
Any thoughts or experiences?
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Tracey Moore
Technical Writer
ParkerVision
