A hypothetical: let's say I am employed in the U.S., and in a field where I am compensated for the results of my ideas or intellectual work, i.e. engineering.
Let's say I have a roughly standard employment agreement and NDA with common stipulations, such as:
I further acknowledge that all inventions, original works of authorship, developments, concepts, know-how, improvements or trade secrets which are made by me within the scope of and during the period of my Relationship with the Company are "works made for hire" [...]
This clause makes a lot of sense and protects the company and their shareholders from questions regarding who owns what -- they company pays me to come up with stuff, and they own it! Great.
Let's say that in addition to engineering (or whatever), I write a nonfiction book about investing in commercial real estate. Can I secure an original work of authorship, as in a copyright, because it is out of scope?
What about extending that to a patent? If I come up with an original process for effectively fermenting kombucha, what are the ramifications of filing a provisional patent assigning the rights to myself?
Are there clear criterion for what is "in-scope" and "out-of-scope"?
For clarity, the jurisdiction is U.S./Nevada.