Is it reasonable for an investor who has a high stake at my company to ask that their name be included in a patent for an invention I worked on solely for months?
by 
simo2008
ANSWERS: 3
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hey it may be worth a try for him to do ,but dont do it,your invention is yours not the bussiness unless you involved him in this invention to get his financial backing for your bussiness,you cant promise a horse water if you are not going to let him drink it you understand what i mean,is your invention seperate from your bussiness,if so keep it like that unless his contributions is worth it to you to involve him in it,but make sure he is willing to accept loses if they accur without holding you responsible,get everything in writing
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This is a tough one. You need to check with a lawyer as well as review all contracts you have with your employer. I've had this come up. If the patentable design was created only on your free time and not using ANY company property, you should have free rights to it. If the design was created during company time and using any company property you will likely come under an intellectual rights clause that means that all control and monies gained go to the employer. Your name would be nothing but a footnote at the patent office. So the name of the investor would be at the discression of the employer. I personally am a couple of footnotes at the patent office. What I did do though, was make sure that enough detail was included to make it unique enough to patent, but not enough to complete a real world version. So any time he wanted to use it, he would have to come to me for assistance (bill him hourly), or pay someone to reverse engineer the design to find the missing bits.
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it could be that he is right in asking for that. you work there. it could very well be owned by the company.
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