Legal Question in Business Law in Texas

My friend is starting up a business, he had me assist him over the past 3 months with various things. Over that time he came up with a very rough concept for a product. The concept was entirely his, however over the period of the 3 months he and I evolved the idea into a patent worthy product. After meeting with a patent attorney and having a patent search done, we are moving forward with a provisional patent. A few of the key elements were directly my ideas while evolving the product. He is wanting me to now sign over all the rights to the patent. He has told me while we are hand making this product he will pay me $20 per item sold, for 3 months. After that he is wanting me to work for him for a little over $15/hour. Is it stupid of me to sign away my rights to this product? Should I be asking for any type of ownership in the company? Considering he has been the only one investing any money in this.


Asked on 10/24/12, 7:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
T. Deon Warner Warner & Associates PLLC

Dear almost Inventor

You need to retain an intellectual property lawyer to assist you with this issue. It cannot be answered by email. There are both legal questions involved (any ownership rights you might have in the product and whether your assistance was a work for hire participation) and business issues involved (is the 3 months and work arrangement sufficient compensation for your assistance).

For this one, hands on help is needed.

TDW

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Answered on 10/26/12, 10:01 am


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