N.D. Cent. Code § 9-14-04

9-14-04. Mandatory contract form

1. A contract for invention development services must set forth the information required in

this section in at least ten-point type or equivalent size if handwritten.

2. The following disclosure statement must be in boldface type and must be located

conspicuously on a cover sheet that contains no other writing:

The following disclosures are required by law and are expressly made a part

of this contract: You have the right to cancel this contract for any reason at any

time within three business days from the date you and the invention developer

sign the contract and you receive a fully executed copy of it. To exercise this

option you need only mail or personally deliver to this invention developer written

notice of your cancellation. The method and time for notification is set forth in this

contract immediately above the place for your signature. Upon cancellation, the

invention developer must return by mail or personal delivery, within ten business

days after receipt of the cancellation notice, all money paid and all materials

provided either by you or by another party in your behalf.

Unless the invention developer is an attorney or patent agent registered with

the United States patent office, the invention developer is not permitted to give

you legal advice concerning patent, copyright, or trademark law or to advise you

of whether your idea or invention may be patentable or may be protected under

the patent, copyright, or trademark laws of the United States or any other law.

No patent, copyright, or trademark protection will be acquired for you by the

invention developer or by this contract. Your failure to inquire into the law

governing patent, copyright, or trademark matters may jeopardize your rights in

your idea or invention both in the United States and in foreign countries. Your

failure to identify and investigate existing patents, trademarks, or registered

copyrights may place you in jeopardy of infringing the copyrights, patent rights, or

trademark rights of other persons if you proceed to make, use, distribute, or sell

your idea or invention.

3. The contract must describe fully and in detail the acts or services that the invention

developer contracts to perform for the customer.

4. The contract must state whether the invention developer contracts to construct one or

more prototypes, models, or devices embodying the customer's invention, the number

of such prototypes to be constructed, and whether the invention developer contracts to

sell or distribute such prototypes, models, or devices.

5. If an oral or written estimate of customer earnings is made, the contract must state the

estimate and the data upon which it is based.

6. In a single statement the contract must set forth both the total number of customers

who have contracted with the invention developer, except that the number need not

reflect those customers who have contracted within the last thirty days, and the

number of customers who have received, by virtue of the invention developer's

performance of invention development services, an amount of money in excess of the

amount of money paid by such customers to the invention developer pursuant to a

contract for invention development services.

7. The contract must state the expected date of completion of the invention development

services.

8. The contract must state whether and the extent to which it effectuates or makes

possible the purchase by the invention developer of an interest in the title to the

customer's invention.

9. The contract must explain that the invention developer is required to maintain all

records and correspondence relating to performance of the invention development

services for that customer for a period not less than three years after expiration of the

term of the contract for invention development services.

10. The contract must state that the records and correspondence required to be
on.

9. The contract must explain that the invention developer is required to maintain all

records and correspondence relating to performance of the invention development

services for that customer for a period not less than three years after expiration of the

term of the contract for invention development services.

10. The contract must state that the records and correspondence required to be

maintained pursuant to section 9-14-08 will be made available to the customer or the

customer's representative for review and copying at the customer's expense on the

invention developer's premises during normal business hours upon seven days' written

notice, the time period to begin from the date the notice is placed in the United States

mail properly addressed and first-class postage prepaid.

11. The contract must state the name of the person or firm contracting to perform the

invention development services, all names under which said person or firm is doing or

has done business as an invention developer during the previous ten years, the

names of all parent and subsidiary companies to the firm, and the name of all

companies that have a contractual obligation to the firm to perform invention

development services.

12. The contract must state the invention developer's principal business address and the

name and address of its agent in this state authorized to receive service of process in

this state.