California Labor Code § 2870: Employee Invention Ownership Guide

Key takeaways:

• California Labor Code § 2870 protects an employee’s right to own inventions developed on personal time, with personal resources, and unrelated to the employer’s business.
• An employer’s “all inventions” assignment clause is unenforceable to the extent it reaches inventions protected under § 2870.
• Labor Code § 2872 requires employers to give written notice that the assignment agreement does not apply to § 2870-protected inventions.
• Stanford v. Roche turns on one detail: “I hereby assign” is a present transfer, while “I agree to assign” is only a future promise.
• AB 692 (2025) bans most “stay-or-pay” provisions, further strengthening California’s employee-mobility policy.