Labor & Employment – Intellectual Property – Patent — Employee’s Inventions – Wage & Hour Act – REDA – Liquidated Damages – Attorney’s Fees

Labor & Employment – Intellectual Property – Patent — Employee’s Inventions – Wage & Hour Act – REDA – Liquidated Damages – Attorney’s Fees (access required)

Morris v. Scenera Research, LLC Defendants acted in good faith and with a reasonable belief that they were not in violation of the Wage and Hour Act when they refused to pay plaintiff bonuses for patents which had not issued yet at the time plaintiff’s employment ended. However, since defendants never reduced to writing – until shortly before plaintiff’s employment ended – a change in plaintiff’s wages, defendants have not shown that they acted in good faith or reasonably believed they were not in violation of the Act when they refused to pay plaintiff bonuses for patents which had already issued. Accordingly, plaintiff is entitled to liquidated damages equal to bonuses that he should have received for patents that had already issued when his employment ended.

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