Your rights by state
Some states protect builders. None make the line clear enough.
Employee invention law is a patchwork. Use this page as a starting point, not legal advice. The goal is a clearer Right to Build safe harbor in every state.
Start here
Select a state to see the current summary.
A strong Right to Build law should protect independent work built outside assigned duties, outside paid working time, without employer resources, confidential information, trade secrets, private customer data, or company systems.
The common weakness
"Related to business" can swallow modern software.
Many existing statutes follow the same basic structure: personal time and personal resources matter, but employers can still claim work tied to their business, research, or assigned duties.
That can be a fair limit when the conflict is specific. It becomes a problem when a large company can say almost every app, AI tool, media product, marketplace, or cloud service is related to a present or future business interest.
What a stronger state law should add
- A clear safe harbor for personal-time, personal-resource work.
- Narrow conflict definitions tied to assigned work or protected information.
- No blanket app-publishing or open-source bans.
- Anti-retaliation protections for lawful independent work.
- Plain-language notice of what the employer does and does not claim.