34-39-3. Scope of act -- When agreements between an employee and employer are enforceable or unenforceable with respect to employment inventions -- Exceptions.
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Effective 5/7/2025
34-39-3. Scope of act -- When agreements between an employee and employer are enforceable or unenforceable with respect to employment inventions -- Exceptions.
(1)An employment agreement between an employee and employer is not enforceable against the employee to the extent that the agreement requires the employee to assign or license, or to offer to assign or license, to the employer any right or intellectual property in or to an invention that is:
(a)created by the employee entirely on the employee's own time; and
(b)not an employment invention.
(2)An agreement between an employee and employer may require the employee to assign or license, or to offer to assign or license, to the employer any or all of the employee's rights and intellectual property in or to an employment invention.
(3)Subsection
(1)does not apply to:
(a)any right, intellectual property or invention that is required by law or by contract between the employer and the United States government or a state or local government to be assigned or licensed to the United States; or
(b)an agreement between an employee and employer which is not an employment agreement.
(4)Notwithstanding Subsection
(1), an agreement is enforceable under Subsection
(1)if the employee's employment or continuation of employment is not conditioned on the employee's acceptance of such agreement and the employee receives a consideration under such agreement which is not compensation for employment.
(5)Employment of the employee or the continuation of the employee's employment is sufficient consideration to support the enforceability of an agreement under Subsection
(2)whether or not the agreement recites such consideration.
(6)An employer may require employees to agree to an agreement within the scope of Subsection
(2)as a condition of employment or the continuation of employment.
(7)An employer may not require employees to agree to anything unenforceable under Subsection
(1)as a condition of employment or the continuation of employment.
(8)Nothing in this chapter invalidates or renders unenforceable any employment agreement or provisions of an employment agreement unrelated to employment inventions.
Amended by Chapter 302 , 2025 General Session