Inventionson the job and their legal basis
Employee invention law regulates the relationship between employees and employers with regard to inventions resulting from an employment relationship.
In principle, the results of an employee’s work belong to the employer and are compensated with the salary. However, if an employee is of the opinion that he has performed a work result in the form of an invention that goes beyond his normal activities, he must immediately report this to his employer as a service invention.
This notification triggers a series of reciprocal rights and obligations defined in employee invention law.
Rights and obligationsin employee invention law
- The employee is obliged to provide the employer with all information about the invention itself and how it came about. On the one hand, this serves to assess the invention itself and its usability, e.g. in one's own company, and on the other hand to assess the inventor's share in the creation of the invention in relation to the company in order to calculate his remuneration. Furthermore, the employee must support the employer in preparing the application for industrial property rights.
- The employer is obliged to register the reported invention as an IP right if he claims it and does not release it to the employee for his own use and registration. The employer must inform the employee about the type and scope of the property right application, e.g. provide copies of the application documents, and offer the employee the property right application or the property right if the employer does not wish to pursue it further. Furthermore, the employer must enable the employee to register abroad if the employer does not wish to do so himself.
- The employer is obliged to pay the employee inventor appropriate remuneration for his invention, depending on the type of use (e.g. in his own product or sale or licensing of the invention to third parties) and his share in the creation of the invention in relation to the company's share.
- The employer is entitled to use the invention, be it in his own company in his own products, be it through licensing or sale.
Processes, deadlines, notifications - so everything remains legally compliant
In order to regulate the legally defined obligations in a uniform and permanent manner, many companies have developed processes for this purpose in order to ensure compliance with the respective deadlines on the employee and employer side and to guarantee an effective flow of information.
Free inventions which the employee makes during an employment relationship, but which do not constitute a service invention, must also be reported to the employer so that the employer can assess whether it is actually a free invention and not a service invention.