Law on Employees’ Invention
The law on employees’ invention determines the interests of employees and employers concerning patentable technical inventions. All inventions that are made within an employer-employee relationship are employee’s inventions.
The German Patent and Trademark Office disposes of an arbitration court for employee inventions that distributes justice in the event of a dispute between the employer and the employee concerning an invention.
Even though inventions are mainly made by employees, the employer may have the right to utilise the invention if it is closely related to the field of work of the employee. In case that the employer is not interested in the use of the invention or in case that the employee has made the invention not at work or not within the area of its work activity, the invention will be released to the inventor. The employee alone can then decide on his invention. In case the employer keeps the invention for himself, the employee has the right to obtain a remuneration that is regulated by law in the remuneration directives on the employees’ invention law.
