This Practice Note introduces the UK law on employee inventions, namely when and how an employee who invents something at work will be allowed to either own the invention they made, or if they do not own it, eg if employed to invent, the circumstances in which they can require their employer to give them compensation for developing an invention that it is of great value to the company.
Many employees engaged in design and research invent products and processes that lead to significant financial rewards for their employers. Under certain circumstances, when an employee has made an invention in the course of their job, they have the right to seek compensation from their employer, even if the nature of their job means that they were ‘employed to invent’ by spending at least some of their work time making inventions. This is in recognition of the work the employee has done, when they are not able to own the invention they produced.
Rights in employees’ inventions
Who is an employee?
The first consideration must be whether the inventor was an employee
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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
National Insurance Contributions definition
What does National Insurance Contributions mean?
Payments deducted from pay or declared through self-assessment, used by the DWP to fund the state pension and other state benefits, ie paid or credited contributions to the National Insurance Fund.
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