Employee Side-Project & Invention Assignment (Labor Code § 2870) Ownership Checker
Determine whether your personal startup, app, or side project belongs 100% to you under state 'Moonlighting IP Carve-Out' laws—or if your employer can claim ownership.
1. Enter Your Case Details Runs in your browser
2. Your result Live Output
- Critical Requirement 1 (§ 2870(a)): [Zero Company Equipment] I built it 100% on my personal laptop/phone/cloud accounts—NEVER touched my work laptop, work GitHub, or work VPN — Even a single git commit from a company-issued MacBook can contaminate your § 2870 safe harbor.
- Critical Requirement 2: [100% Off-Duty Hours] Every line of code and design was created strictly on nights, weekends, or PTO—never during paid work hours — Keep git commit timestamps proving work occurred strictly outside working hours.
- Critical Requirement 3: [Unrelated to Employer Business] The project does NOT relate to my employer's current business or actual/demonstrably anticipated R&D — If your employer builds B2B HR software and your side project is a consumer fitness game, it is unrelated.
- Critical Requirement 4: [No Trade Secrets Used] I did not use any proprietary code, internal datasets, or confidential know-how from my employer — Ensure all libraries used are open-source or written from scratch.
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3. How the rule works
Who this is for
Employees with a side project, especially software engineers and designers, who signed an invention assignment agreement and want to know whether their employer can claim it.
It is a screening checklist; ownership disputes often depend on small facts like which laptop was used.
What to have ready
- Your invention assignment or confidentiality agreement.
- A list of prior inventions you disclosed, if any.
- Records showing when and on which devices the project was built.
- A short description of your employer's products and research areas.
The rule
California Labor Code § 2870 says an employment agreement cannot require an employee to assign an invention developed entirely on the employee's own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities or trade secret information. The protection does not cover inventions that relate to the employer's business or its actual or demonstrably anticipated research and development when conceived, or that result from work the employee did for the employer. Under § 2872 the employer must give written notice of this limit when the agreement requires assignment.
Several other states have similar statutes, including Washington (RCW 49.44.140), Illinois (765 ILCS 1060/2), Delaware (19 Del. C. § 805), Minnesota (Minn. Stat. § 181.78) and New York (Labor Law § 203-f, enacted in 2023). The wording differs: some are narrower than California's, and all of them keep the employer's rights to inventions related to its business.
Read the official text:
Worked example: two side projects
A payments engineer at a fintech company in California builds two apps on weekends with her own laptop.
App 1: recipe planner, no company code or data
own time + own equipment + unrelated -> likely protected by § 2870
App 2: budgeting tool that tracks card transactions
relates to the employer's business -> outside § 2870
even though built at home on weekendsCommon mistakes
- Using a work laptop, work account or company cloud credits even once.
- Assuming 'unrelated' means a different product. Courts look at the employer's business and anticipated R&D.
- Not listing prior inventions on the agreement's schedule before signing.
- Copying patterns or data from work into the side project.
Limits of this tool
- Invention assignment protections vary by state, and many states have no such statute.
- Copyright 'work made for hire' rules and patent law can also affect ownership.
- The checklist cannot assess how a court would define the employer's anticipated R&D.
Sources were last checked in October 2026. Statutes are amended often; if the official text differs from this page, the official text controls.
4. Clear Next Steps & Statutory Action Plan
- Read your agreement for the assignment clause and any prior-invention schedule.
- Keep the project fully separate: personal devices, accounts and time.
- If the project might relate to your employer's business, consider asking for a written release.
5. Frequently Asked Statutory Questions (Cal. Lab. Code § 2870; N.Y. Lab. Law § 203-f; Wash. RCW 49.44.140; Del. Code tit. 19 § 805)
Does New York have a law like California's § 2870?
Yes. Labor Law § 203-f, enacted in 2023, makes assignment clauses unenforceable for inventions developed entirely on the employee's own time without employer equipment or trade secrets, with similar exceptions for related inventions.
Can my employer claim something I built before I joined?
Generally not, but list it on the prior-inventions schedule to avoid disputes.
What if I used the company laptop once?
That can take the invention outside § 2870's protection, because the statute requires that no employer equipment was used.