Shaw v. Regents of University of California

Opinion

SCOTLAND, J.

This case involves a dispute over a policy of the Regents of the University of California (the University) which provides that, as a condition of employment by the University, an employee must assign to the University any of the employee’s inventions and patents conceived in the course of employment; as consideration for the assignment, the employee will get a percentage of those net royalties and fees received by the University for a patented invention.

When Associate Professor Douglas V. Shaw was hired by the University to teach and do research, the patent policy specified…