Talk to a lawyer. IANAL. If you don't have the initial agreement in writing, you effectively never had one in the first place. Check your invention assignmen

Talk to a lawyer. IANAL. If you don't have the initial agreement in writing, you effectively never had one in the first place. Check your invention assignment agreement in your hiring paperwork, if you have one. Also, check your states's rules regarding IP and your employer. Now, for question 1, building a company off of licensed technology shouldn't be a problem. However, if you have dreams of an exclusive license, make sure it's in some sort of agreement. For question 2, I've thought about this b/c of a situation I'm in right now. Consult a lawyer. Inventions are invented by people (in the US), and then can be assigned to a company. If you don't have an invention assignment agreement and won't sign one, can they arbitrarily name someone else as the inventor...sure. Then, you might be able to get into a really hairy legal game, like for example, when the published step forward. I'm not sure what the outcome will be, so consult a lawyer. Could you rush and file a provisional ahead of the company? These are the types of games that cost money to play, so beware. 3. Move on. It's probably seems like your whole world / future is collapsing around you. It's not.