Nebraska Statutes 87-602. Terms, defined
For purposes of the Invention Development Services Disclosure Act:
Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 87-602
- Attorney: shall mean attorney at law. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Company: shall include any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, joint-stock company, joint venture, or association. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
- Person: shall include bodies politic and corporate, societies, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and associations. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Process: shall mean a summons, subpoena, or notice to appear issued out of a court in the course of judicial proceedings. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- United States: shall include territories, outlying possessions, and the District of Columbia. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
(1) Contract for invention development services shall mean a contract by which an invention developer undertakes invention development services for a customer;
(2) Customer shall mean any person, firm, partnership, limited liability company, corporation, or other entity that enters into a contract for invention development services, except any firm, limited liability company, corporation, or other entity, other than a natural person, purchasing invention development services as an adjunct to the traditional commercial enterprises in which it engages as a livelihood;
(3) Invention shall mean a discovery, process, machine, design, formulation, product, concept, or idea, or any combination thereof, whether patentable or not;
(4) Invention developer shall mean any person, firm, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation and any agent, employee, officer, partner, member, or independent contractor thereof who offers to perform or performs for a customer any invention development services. Invention developer shall not include:
(a) Any department or agency of the federal, state, or local government;
(b) Any nonprofit, charitable, scientific, or educational organization described in section 170(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code;
(c) Any attorney acting within the scope of the attorney’s professional license;
(d) Any person duly registered before the United States Patent and Trademark Office acting within the scope of that person’s professional license; or
(e) Any person, firm, limited liability company, corporation, association, or other entity that does not charge a fee for invention development services other than any payment made from a portion of the income received by a customer by virtue of such acts performed by such entity. For purposes of this subdivision, fee shall include any payment made by the customer to such entity including reimbursement for expenditures made or costs incurred by such entity; and
(5) Invention development services shall mean any act involved in the evaluation of an invention for commercial potential and the marketing, brokering, or promoting of such an invention done by or for an invention developer for the purpose of procuring a licensee or buyer for an intellectual property right in the invention.