On September 15, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed SB 5640 into law, adding New York to the growing list of states that restrict the enforcement of employee intellectual property assignment agreements.
SB 5640 creates a new Section 203-f under New York’s Labor Law, which the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) is responsible for enforcing. The new law took effect immediately upon Governor Hochul’s signature, so it is vital that New York employers act now to understand the new legal landscape.
The new law generally makes unenforceable any provision in an employment agreement that requires an employee to assign to the employer (or offer to assign) an invention that the employee develops on their own time and without the employer’s equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information (a “Non-Assignable Invention”). However, SB 5640 exempts from this carveout those inventions created on the employee’s own time/equipment that:
In other words, even if the invention was created on the employee’s own time and without the employer’s tools, etc., if it either relates to the business when it was developed or results from work that the employee is performing for the employer (an “Exempt and Assignable Invention”), it...
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