417.400. Definitions.

MISSOURI STATUTES AND CODES

Definitions.

417.400. As used in sections 417.400 to 417.436, the following termsmean:

(1) "Contract", an agreement by which an invention developerundertakes to develop or promote an invention for a customer;

(2) "Customer", any person who is solicited by, inquires about, seeksthe services of, or enters into a contract with, an invention developer forinvention development services;

(3) "Fee", any payment made by the customer to the inventiondeveloper including reimbursement for expenditures made or costs incurredby such invention developer, but does not include a payment made from aportion of the income received by a customer by virtue of inventiondevelopment services performed by the invention developer;

(4) "Invention", a process, machine, manufacture, composition ofmatter, improvement upon the foregoing, or a concept;

(5) "Invention developer", any person, or the agent, employee, orrepresentative of the person, that develops or promotes, or offers todevelop or promote, an invention of a customer in order that the customer'sinvention may be patented, licensed, or sold for manufacture ormanufactured in large quantities, except the term does not include:

(a) Any attorney registered to practice in any court in any state ofthe United States and acting within the scope of that person's professionallicense, or any person registered before the United States Patent andTrademark Office acting within the scope of that person's professionallicense;

(b) A department or agency of federal, state or local government;

(c) A charitable, scientific, educational, religious, or otherorganization, qualified under section 501(c)(3) or described in section170(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;

(d) An entity that does not charge a fee for invention developmentservices other than any payment made solely from a portion of the incomereceived by a customer by virtue of invention development servicesperformed by the person;

(6) "Invention development services", acts required or promised to beperformed, or actually performed, or both, by an invention developer for acustomer.