Section 9-14-01 - DefinitionsAs 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.