IP protection without employment contract?

If there is no employment contract, would the Intellectual propoerties produced by the employees as part of the job not belong to the employer? Also, isn't there an implied non-disclosure agreeement between employer and employee or does it need to be spelled out in an employement contract?

The employer in question is a small internet-oriented company with a handful of employees.

Thanks

Keith

In the US, your assumptions are probably correct if the employee invented the items during work hours, on your premises and/or using your equipment, and the item invented is directly related to the company's products. Some states are more "employer friendly" than others and thus more likely to rule with the employer in a court case.

However, you are always better off protecting yourself and yoru company by instituting an agreement that the employee signs upon hire which spells out a confidentiality/NDA agreement as well as how IP rights will be determined.

Regardless of when and where you developed the intellectual property, if your company was so short sighted not to require that you sign a NDA/or IP agreement in your contract, they have very little, if any, legal recourse against you (that's why NDAs and IP agreements exist).

Having said that, if you are contemplating doing something that is probably unethical and skirts the bounds of illegality, you have to ask yourself if any potential profit is worth a potential legal action by the company? I have known companies that have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars going after employees that committed unethical or illegal actions against the company that were not worth much.

So before you consider any action at all, consider this: what is the probability that your action will land you in court? If you do go to court, who has the deeper pockets: you or the company?

Remember this: the color of justice in America is GREEN.