Prior inventions list: what to record before a new job

What a prior inventions list is

A prior inventions list is the part of an employment agreement, or a schedule attached to it, where you name the work you had before the job started. Your agreement may use a different name for it. Agreements word this differently, so read your own agreement closely, including any instructions about what to list and how much detail to give.

Some official sources bear on these clauses. In Australia, IP Australia says: “In Australia, employers own the IP their employees create in relation to the business. Exceptions to this rule must be in the employment contract to be legally binding.” (source). In the US, some states limit invention assignment clauses. For example, California Labor Code section 2870 says an assignment provision “shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer’s equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information”. It has exceptions for inventions that relate to the employer’s business or its actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development, and for inventions that result from work done for the employer (California Labor Code, section 2870(a)). Washington’s RCW 49.44.140 has a similar rule, and requires the employer to give the employee written notice of it when the agreement is made (source). These are examples only. Ask a lawyer which rules apply to you.

The list matters most later. Picture a project you built on weekends that becomes useful a year into the job. A manager sees it and asks whether you built it on company time. Or a side project turns into a product, and someone asks when it really started. Doubt about who made something, and when, is the moment a dated record helps. Saying “I had this before I joined” is easier to back up when you can point to exact files and a recorded time.

For a real dispute where sketches, ideas and timing were argued over, read about the Bratz sketches and employment ownership.

How to build a prior inventions list you can back up

A list you can back up has two parts: the list itself, and the files it points to.

Step 1: write the list

For each item, note:

• a short name, such as “budget-tracker app” or “chair design, version 2”
• what it is, in a sentence
• where the files live: a folder, a repository, a notebook, a design file
• the version or state it’s in today
• roughly when you started it, if you know

Be specific about what you’re naming. “Some apps” is hard to match to anything later. “budget-tracker, release 1.3, archive budget-tracker-1.3.zip” is easy to match.

Step 2: decide how much to describe

You may not want to put the inner workings of a project in a document your employer keeps. How much detail your list needs is set by your agreement, so check its instructions and ask a lawyer if they are unclear. This page doesn’t suggest what level of detail is enough.

What a timestamp adds here is a record of the full files that stays private. The file itself is never uploaded. Only its fingerprint is recorded. So the line on your list can stay short, while the full files and their recorded time sit with you.

Step 3: save the list as a file

Keep the list as a file, such as a PDF, alongside the agreement you were given. You’ll timestamp it in the next step, with the files it names.

What to include: code, designs, notebooks and domains

• Code. Make an archive (a zip) of each project at its current version, and add a commit list if you have one. See timestamping source code. That page notes that Git dates come from the committer’s machine and history can be rewritten, which is why a separate recorded time can help. See also how Git commit dates compare with a timestamp.
• Designs and drawings. Export the source files and the finished images as they stand now.
• Notebooks and sketches. Scan or photograph the pages, and keep the scans as files. For research and engineering notes, see timestamping invention records.
• Domains and accounts. Save a document or screenshot listing domains and project accounts you hold, with what each is for.
• Ideas you haven’t built. Write them up in a short document. If you’re weighing an app idea in particular, read how to protect an app idea. If you’re weighing a patent, compare a provisional patent and a timestamp.
• Confidential methods. If a project includes know-how you keep private, see how to keep trade secret records.

Timestamp the files before day one

Gather the exact files your list points to, then TimeBind them before you sign or before your first day. Each file is fingerprinted on your own device, and only the fingerprint is recorded on the Bitcoin blockchain. Any file type works. You can add up to 10 files to one TimeBind, such as your list plus the archives it names. You get a Proof of Time Certificate. See how TimeBinder works.

Store the exact files and the certificate together, with backups. If you re-zip a folder later, the new archive is a different file with a different fingerprint, so keep the original.

Keep going after you start. If you keep working on a side project outside the job, timestamping new versions as you go builds a dated trail. Whether that work is yours under the agreement is a separate question for the agreement and a lawyer.

What a TimeBind does not show

This is general information, not legal advice.

When TimeBinder isn’t the right tool

• You need to know what the agreement means. Ask a lawyer. A timestamp can’t read or interpret a clause.
• The earlier versions are gone. A TimeBind can only record the files you have now.
• You need someone to decide who owns a project. That’s a legal question, not a timestamp.

Record your prior inventions before you sign

Start by timestamping your list and the files it names before your first day. See plans and pricing