Patents and intellectual property
- by MrDatabase
A colleague of mine made an assertion that "your employer owns all patents that you file while an employee". Is this accurate?
For example:
Suppose I'm an employee of company xyz where I make widgets of type "w". In my spare time I make widgets of type "t" as a hobby. I do not use any resources from company xyz at all for my hobby. Also the widget types are completely different. For example w could be lawn mower wheels and t could be sliding door frames (so I'm not using any skills learned from my employment at company xyz when making widgets of type t). If I were to file and receive a patent for widgets of type t would company xyz have any rights/ownership to this at all?