Submitting Ideas to Emerson
At Emerson, we are always striving to improve the high quality products and services we
proudly bring to our customers. Thus, we welcome suggestions and ideas pertaining to
the products and services we offer.
Before you choose to share an idea with us, however, we ask that you take a few
moments to review the information below to ensure that you fully understand Emerson’s
process and conditions for considering idea submissions.
Background
Every year, Emerson receives numerous ideas and suggestions from outside the
company concerning our existing products and services as well as proposals for new
products and services. You should know, however, that Emerson invests heavily in
ongoing research and development of its own and its employees create the vast majority
of the product and service solutions that Emerson delivers to its customers. You should
also know that many of the ideas we receive are already known to us or already
generally known within the particular field to which the idea pertains. Therefore, it is not
uncommon for submissions received from outside Emerson to overlap with our ongoing
internal research and development activities.
To protect our ongoing research and development work and prevent the mingling of
information that originates from outside Emerson with Emerson’s own research and
development, we have established a policy and process for handling all idea
submissions.
Please note that we appreciate very much your interest in Emerson – even though, in
most cases, Emerson chooses to not pursue outside idea submissions.
Summary of Emerson’s Policy
At least at initial stages, Emerson reviews idea submissions only on a non-confidential
basis in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the accompanying
document entitled “Submission Agreement” which you will need to sign, date and return
before Emerson will consider any idea you wish to submit. Emerson will not agree to
consider any ideas, information or material submitted without a signed Submission
Agreement.
Any information you furnish at this point will not be kept confidential. Therefore, you
should provide us only with non-confidential information about your idea.
In other
words, you should not provide us with any information that must be kept secret or cannot
be freely used by Emerson. After considering your non-confidential information,
Emerson may agree to accept additional information that you consider to be confidential.
However, unless and until we sign a different and separate agreement that obligates
Emerson to keep that information secret, all information that you furnish to us will be
treated as non-confidential information.
Submitting your idea to Emerson does not restrict you from presenting the same
information to other companies, and you are not granting any rights to Emerson under
any patent you have or obtain in the future.
Protecting Your Ideas
You may have protectable rights in your idea and should consider protecting those rights
with a patent before disclosing the idea to Emerson. This is especially important
because disclosing your idea to Emerson may affect your ability to obtain a patent. To
best understand whether you can obtain a patent for your idea, you should consult a
registered patent attorney. Therefore, we encourage you to submit your information to
us only after you have either: first obtained appropriate legal advice; or decided not to
pursue protection for your idea.
Possible Compensation to You
If your idea is protected by a valid patent or the subject of a pending patent application,
and Emerson is interested in it, we may negotiate with you for a license to or ownership
of your patent rights.
If your idea is not patented, but is original and of interest to Emerson, Emerson may pay
you a nominal fee. The amount of any such fee, if any, however will be determined by
Emerson in its sole discretion.
Emerson’s Idea Submission Process
Step 1 – Carefully review and then sign and date the Submission Agreement and
return it to us accompanied by the non-confidential information you wish to
submit to Emerson about your idea. We can only start the process of considering
information from you once you have signed, dated and returned the Submission
Agreement. The signed Submission Agreement and accompanying non-confidential
information should be mailed to the following address (we do not accept submissions by
e-mail):
Emerson Electric Co.
Attn: Law Department – Idea Submissions
8000 W. Florissant Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63136
Step 2 – Emerson will evaluate the information submitted. We will evaluate the
information you furnish. We may ask you to provide additional information – still on a
non-confidential basis – to help us better understand the idea. Any such additional
information you provide remains subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the
Submission Agreement you have already signed and returned to us.
Step 3 – Emerson will provide a written response. Once we have evaluated your
idea submission, we will let you know if we are interested in having further discussions
with you about the idea. If we are interested in learning more about your idea, we will
propose additional terms for continuing discussions, possibly on a confidential basis.