§ 9-14-01 — Definitions

North Dakota § 9-14-01

• Jurisdiction: North Dakota
• Title 9: Contracts and Obligations
• Ch. 9-14: Invention Development Services Contracts

Text

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Contract for invention development services" includes a contract by which an
invention developer undertakes to develop or promote an invention for a customer.
2. "Customer" means any individual who is solicited by, inquires about, seeks the
services of, or enters into a contract with an invention developer for invention
development services.
3. "Invention" includes a process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter,
improvement upon the foregoing, or a concept.
4. "Invention developer" means any person, and the agents, employees, or
representatives of the person, that develops or promotes or offers to develop or
promote an invention of a customer in order that the customer's invention may be
patented, licensed, or sold for manufacture or manufactured in large quantities, except
the term does not include:
a. A partnership, corporation, or limited liability company when all of its partners,
stockholders, or members are licensed by a state or the United States to render
legal advice concerning patents and trademarks, or a person so licensed.
b. A department or agency of federal, state, or local government.
c. A charitable, scientific, educational, religious, or other organization described in
section 170(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
d. An entity that does not charge a fee for invention development services.
e. An entity whose gross receipts from contracts for invention development services
do not exceed ten 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.
f. A partnership, corporation, or limited liability company that accepts technology
from institutions of higher education and other state and federal research
institutions for evaluation and the providing of marketing services.
For the purposes of this subsection, "fee" includes any payment made by the customer
to the entity, including reimbursements for expenditures made or costs incurred by
such entity, but does not include a payment made from a portion of the income
received by a customer by virtue of invention development services performed by the
entity.
5. "Invention development services" includes acts required or promised to be performed,
or actually performed, by an invention developer for a customer.