Sunday, November 6, 2011

Ownership of an invention by an employee in Spain

Straight from the law 11/1986, BOE núm. 73, de 26 de marzo de 1986

http://www.oepm.es/cs/OEPMSite/contenidos/NORMATIVA/NormasSobrePatentes_MU_Topografias_CCP/NSPMTCCP_Patentes_Modelos/NSPMTCCP_Patentes_Modelos_Nacionales/Ley11_1986de20demarzo_dePatentes.htm#tit3

The relation is covered under Title IV:
  1. Article 15: Inventions related to the work the employee does are company's ownership, and company does not need to pay anything extra unless the effect of such an invention is way beyond what the employee was paid for.
  2. Article 16: Everything else belongs to the worker. Notice that there is nothing in there on "an area where the company has or may have interest in the future". Only limit is what the worker is paid for, NOT what the company is working in or has interest in.
  3. Article 17: If the inventor uses the company on any way for the invention, the company has the right on the invention. Use the company means, not only using company facilities/tools, but also acquired knowledge within the company.
  4. Article 18: The inventor has to provide all the info related to an invention under articles 15 and 17 to the company in 3 months.
  5. Article 19: This law still applies to inventions filed for patent even a year after the employee has left the company.
  6. Article 20: Details in the University context.
Conclusion: bottom line, this looks to follow the "fairness concept" defended by me in previous posts.

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