He Built It on My Patents

My boss, Mark, fired me on a Friday afternoon—five minutes before my probation

ended. No warning. No cause. Just a smile and, “It’s not personal.

Business decision.” He kept my ideas though. The system I designed. The client list

I built. The process he took credit for. I was angry for about a week.

Then I remembered something. During my first month, Mark had asked me

to “temporarily” file a few patents under the company name to speed things up.

He promised they’d be reassigned to me once probation ended. They never were.

But here’s the thing— the paperwork was rushed. The patents weren’t assigned to the