An invention assignment agreement is a contract that allows the employer certain rights to inventions created or developed by the employee during the employment period. Generally, this type of agreement requires the employee to disclose any such inventions to the employer, to assign (legally transfer) ownership rights in such inventions to the employer. It also assists the employer in getting a patent on any such inventions. Types of invention agreements might include other clauses as well like the agreement might ask the employee to list all inventions the employee created before working at the company. This is done to prevent the employee from later claiming rights to any inventions that are not on the list.

Assignment agreements often include other standard contract language too, such as a provision requiring the losing party in a dispute to pay for attorneys' fees, or an “integration” clause, stating that the written contract represents the entire agreement between the parties (that way, neither party can later claim that they had a separate side deal or handshake agreement that doesn’t appear in the written contract). This type of agreement requires the employee to disclose any such inventions to the employer, to assign ownership rights in such inventions to the employer. It also assists the employer in getting a patent on any such inventions. The waiver provision requires the employee to list all inventions he or she conceived or patented prior to beginning work with your company and waive any right to claim that the invention created during the scope of his or her employment with your company was actually created prior to the commencement of that employment.