I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that yes it would count as an invention. You need to address this with your employer before proceeding any further.
Now you're in touchy territory, you're telling your bosses that you have a side project which may one day take you away from them, but if you're going to do this and maintain control it's a risk you have to take.
Otherwise when you leave, if they know about it, they can take you to court for this project.
If you go in to talk to them, assure them that it is a side project and that you won't work on it during work hours or using work equipment (not even a company lent laptop is safe.) If the project is still neo-natal then they should be cool with it and have no interest in it unless the idea is that good.
If you think the company might take it from you and you don't want that. You have to work on it in secret, never tell the coworkers, etc. Then leave the company before it becomes known, and the term expires on your contract document.
That was the only thing I was worried about. Even if I don't tell anybody and work on it in secret, after I leave the company and say release this product, could they come after me and say : hey, you signed a contract .. this product belongs to us since you worked on it when you were with the company ?
I guess I am getting a little paranoid about this but I just wanted to understand if anybody had any good / bad experiences and the best way to go about it. Thanks for the advice
