Absent agreement, ownership of employee-created intellectual property is governed by default rules that frequently disappoint employers.

Copyright. Works prepared by an employee within the scope of employment are works made for hire, owned by the employer. Works by independent contractors are not, unless they fall within enumerated categories and there is a signed written agreement — which is why contractor agreements need express assignments.

Patents. An invention belongs to the inventor unless assigned. The employer’s shop right — a non-exclusive license where company time and resources were used — is a poor substitute for ownership.

Assignment agreements should use present-tense assignment language, because a promise to assign in the future has been held to create only an equitable obligation that can be defeated by a later actual assignment to someone else.

Statutory limits. Several states void assignment provisions covering inventions developed entirely on the employee’s own time without company equipment or trade secrets and unrelated to the business, and require written notice of the limitation to employees. Overbroad clauses in those states risk invalidity.

Disclosure obligations and a prior inventions schedule signed at hire prevent later disputes about what the employee brought with them.

Moral rights and open source obligations should be addressed for engineering and creative roles.