The moonlighters I'm familiar with were IT guys working on projects that were not directly related to their employers' business--public domain programs, charity, or getting started on commercial ventures for other markets where there was is little invention, just re-application of existing technology. I lost track of that patent for the longbow flex stay. Which explains why I'm not detail-oriented enough to have my own bike company.

My thinking was that Specialized would never have been interested in implementing a frame design idea by two guys in accessories clouded the fact that the idea for it came while they were at Specialized. And now I'm recalling all those patents IBM developed over the decades that were never brought to market, and I'm chastened.

And I agree strongly that these guys should have been more circumspect, and they should have been getting legal advice much earlier in the game. Would the stage of development of their idea while they were still employed have an impact on Specialized's ownership of it?