[chaostheory]

(I'm not a lawyer and this is not advice. This is based mainly on a former co-worker's experience; his wife happened to be a contract lawyer.)

A lot of engineers seem to forget the IP agreement that they signed when they joined. Typical ones essentially say that any idea you come up with even in your sleep outside of work is owned by your employer...

If you want to keep your job and still do something, depending on the state you live in, you can do something. When your IP employment contract needs to be renewed or signed, bring the contract to a contract / employment lawyer. They can make ammendments to it that are more fair (eg. if the idea is not related to your company's industry and its done outside of company time and resources - it's yours). Again you should probably talk to a lawyer.

btw what state do you live/work in? if it's cali, you may have a little more leverage. if in the south east (and Texas), probably less...