If you've hired employees to create anything for you, whether it's pharmaceuticals or running shoes, you'll need an employee intellectual property policy to ensure that anything they create on company time remains under company ownership. You've probably taken measures to prevent theft or infringement from competitors or other outside sources, but have you considered who your employees might share sensitive company information with?

An employee intellectual property policy:

1. Ensures that all employees understand that everything they design, create or innovate belongs to the company.
2. Binds current or former employees from selling, disclosing or using as their own idea anything created while on the job.
3. Helps your company comply with federal intellectual property law.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Start with an understanding of intellectual property law

Before you can draft a comprehensive and legally binding corporate intellectual property policy, you need to know the laws regarding patents, trademarks and copyrights.

I recommend: At the website for the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress, you can research U.S. Copyright Law laws governing copyright law, for everything from sound recordings to designs. You can also keep an eye on the latest copyright regulations. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website includes a comprehensive law and policy section, which features international intellectual property information, federal laws and regulations, and patent and trademark policies, procedures and regulations. And at the World Intellectual Property Organization, find out what category of intellectual property your company's work falls under.

Use a sample intellectual property policy as a guide

To understand what goes into an intellectual property policy for business, it helps to look at sample intellectual property statement, either one in use by another company, or a basic sample intellectual property disclaimer you can adapt to your own organization.

I recommend: earch FindLaw's document library for information and forms related to everything from basic patent and copyright information to infringement, or use FindLaw's sample intellectual property agreements, taken from real companies. At NOLO, a consumer-oriented legal guide publisher, purchase intellectual property how-to guides in print, on CD or e-book. Or, model your policy after the sample employee intellectual property agreement found at Ten3 Business e-Coach.

Hire a patent lawyer or other intellectual property attorney to draft or review your policy

The surest way of protecting your company's intellectual property is to enlist the expertise of an intellectual property attorney. They can review your existing policy, or help you create one from scratch. They'll likely have created dozens of policies for other companies, and will be well-versed in federal intellectual property regulations as well as anything specific to your state or you industry. In legal documents, wording is crucial, so you don't want to risk losing the rights to a potentially lucrative invention because of a legal loophole.

I recommend: Search for intellectual property attorneys in your area at the American Bar Association website, or at the U.S. Patent and Trade Office site.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Intellectual property law differs among countries. If you have offices or employees in other countries, research international intellectual property law regulations, and make sure your employee agreement takes those into consideration.