How do patents on product inventions/designs work if inventions are signed off to the company you work for?

Question

Someone is working for a company where the "standard" policy, where all inventions made (during the time period, using what equipment, etc.) can be claimed by the company, applies...
When that employee creates new inventions for the company that are patent-able, can the employee apply for the patent under his name? How is this done and how does the company's rights come into play?

I am asking this because I know of a few instances where an employee has patents on his designs/inventions that were made for the company they work for and was wondering how it all works when all inventions are supposed to belong to the company.

Answer 1

There is a distinction between being the inventor, and being the assignee (aka owner) of the patent or patent application.

In the US, anyone who made a material contribution to at least one claim, must be recognized as an inventor. If no assignee is specified, the inventor is the presumed applicant/assignee.

In practice, employment agreements will contain a clause that the employee agrees to assign his/her inventions to the company (i.e is obligated to assign). In most cases, a separate assignment agreement is then later recorded with reference to the patent application or patent. In the US, if the employment agreement contains the phrase "and hereby assigns" (with the appropriate context), the employment agreement itself can serve as a valid and enforceable assignment agreement.

Answer 2

If an employee developed the invention on employer's time and/or using his resources she must assign the invention to her employer. If she did it on her own time that's different. Yes, some employments agreement requires employees claim employers' ownership of all IP developed by employee during her employment, but they may not be enforceable in some states, which have different laws on the book. Look up your state law statutes regarding IP rights.