California Business and Professions Code 22395 – An invention developer shall maintain as confidential all disclosures …
An invention developer shall maintain as confidential all disclosures made to it by a customer seeking invention development services, except:
(a) Information which at the time of disclosure is in the public domain.
Terms Used In California Business and Professions Code 22395
- Customer: shall include any person, firm, corporation, or other entity that is solicited by, inquires about or seeks the services of, or enters into a contract for invention development services with an invention developer, except (1) any department or agency of the federal, state, or local government, (2) any charitable, scientific, educational, religious, or other organization qualified under Section 501(c)(3) or described in Section 170(b)(1)(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, and (3) any person, firm, corporation, or other entity regularly engaged in a trade, business, or profession which has either a net worth of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more or gross receipts from any source of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or more during the calendar year in which any contract for invention development services is signed. See California Business and Professions Code 22371
- Invention: shall mean (1) an invention, (2) an idea, (3) a concept, or (4) any combination thereof. See California Business and Professions Code 22371
- Invention developer: shall mean any person, firm, corporation, or association, and the agents, employees, or representatives of such person, firm, corporation, or association that develops or promotes or offers to develop or promote an invention, except (1) any department or agency of the federal, state, or local government, (2) any charitable, scientific, educational, religious, or other organization qualified under Section 501(c)(3) or described in Section 170(b)(1)(a) of the Internal Revenue of Code of 1954, as amended, (3) any person, firm, corporation, association, or other entity whose gross receipts from contracts for invention development services, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 22371, do not exceed 10 percent of its gross receipts from all sources during the fiscal year preceding the year in which any contract for invention development services is signed, or (4) any person, firm, corporation, association or other entity that does not charge a fee for invention development services. See California Business and Professions Code 22371
- Invention development services: shall include acts required or promised to be performed, or actually performed, or both, by an invention developer for a customer. See California Business and Professions Code 22371
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
(b) Information which, after disclosure, becomes part of the public domain by publication or otherwise, independently of any act or omission by the invention developer.
(c) Information which the invention developer can establish by competent proof was in its possession at the time of disclosure by the customer, and was not acquired, directly or indirectly, from the customer.
(d) Information which the invention developer receives from a third party; provided, however, that such information was not obtained in confidence by said third party, directly or indirectly, from the customer.
This duty of confidentiality includes the taking of reasonable steps by the invention developer to prevent disclosure of confidential information to third parties. This confidential relationship cannot be waived by a customer without an express written waiver by the customer of the invention developer’s obligation of confidentiality, and no waiver shall be entered into until after the disclosures described in Section 22381 have been made.
(Added by Stats. 1983, Ch. 332, Sec. 4.)