Employment Law And Intellectual Property Law

In today’s knowledge-based global economy, most inventions are made by employed persons through their employers’ research and development activities. However, methods of establishing rights over an employee’s intellectual property assets are relatively uncertain in the absence of international solutions. Given that increasingly more businesses establish entities in different countries and more employees co-operate across borders, it becomes essential for companies to be able to establish the conditions under which ownership subsists in intellectual property created in employment relationships in various countries. This comparative law publication describes and analyses employers’ acquisition of employees’ intellectual property rights, first in general and then in depth. This second edition of the book considers thirty-four different jurisdictions worldwide. The book was developed within the framework of the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), a non-affiliated, non-profit organization dedicated to improving and promoting the protection of intellectual property at both national and international levels. Among the issues and topics covered by the forty-nine distinguished contributors are the following: • different approaches in different law systems; • choice of law for contracts; • harmonizing international jurisdiction rules; • conditions for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; • employees’ rights in copyright, semiconductor chips, inventions, designs, plant varieties and utility models on a country-by-country basis; • employee remuneration right; • parties’ duty to inform; and • instances for disputes. With its wealth of information on an increasingly important subject for practitioners in every jurisdiction, this book is sure to be put to constant use by corporate lawyers and in-house counsel everywhere. It is also exceptionally valuable as a thorough resource for academics and researchers interested in the international harmonization of intellectual property law.

This comprehensive Research Handbook explores the rights of employers and employees with regard to intellectual property (IP) created within the framework of the employment relationship. Investigating the development of employee IP from a comparative perspective, it contextualises issues in the light of theoretical approaches in both IP law and labour law.

This collection includes twenty-four articles published over a period that spans almost seventy years and is related to the law in three jurisdictions. The volume is divided into five parts and brings together influential and significant scholarly work in this exciting field. The material examines various themes that arise at the points at which employment and intellectual property laws converge: historical perspectives on employee inventions; rationales for default rules; allocation of ownership of employee creation; restraints and employee mobility and discusses university approaches and issues. With an original introduction by the editor, this timely collection will be a valuable source of reference for students, academics and practitioners interested in employment and intellectual property law.

The explosion in intellectual capital coincides with a growing understanding of the importance of human capital to the firm. This book examines the pressing legal issues that arise at the intersections of intellectual property law, employment law, and

Business Innovation and the Law analyses the topical issue of protecting and promoting business research and development. It does so by examining business innovation through the lens of different legal disciplines Ð intellectual property, labour and employment laws, competition and corporate laws. Evaluating the impact of each of these areas using discipline-specific and industry perspectives, the book also explores questions about whether a more harmonized approach is necessary to provide appropriate protection. Approaches of the common law and civil jurisdictions, particularly the European Union, inform and provide guidance to the analysis of emerging issues in this field. This book provides insights into various approaches taken by both common law and civil law jurisdictions regarding the increasingly blurred line of ownership rights in innovative industries. It traverses various disciplines of law as well as jurisdictions. Using interdisciplinary perspectives to business innovation and inter-jurisdictional comparisons and analysis, this book will appeal to university administrators responsible for intellectual property policy, managers of technology transfer offices in universities, intellectual property lawyers, labour and employment lawyers and competition lawyers.

Trade secrets and post-contractual non-compete clauses (restrictive covenants) are intrinsically linked issues when analysed in the context of past and present employment. While trade secrets have been the object of legislation in a number of major jurisdictions during the last couple of years, post-employment restrictive covenants have been left out of such legislative activity. Still, they have come under increasing scrutiny of economists and may well come into legislative focus in the near future. As the chapters of this book highlight in detail, the approach to the protection of trade secrets, the conditions under which an employer can protect trade secrets and other business interests by way of a restrictive covenant, and the scope within which former employees by using the skills and knowledge can compete with a former employer, hugely differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This is not only so for the effective scope, but also for the underlying doctrinal reasons, making a country-by-country comparison difficult, and a common structure of the chapters a challenge. After all, the topic involves international law (Paris Convention, TRIPS), domestic labour law, domestic sui generis protection, and, most importantly, domestic competition and unfair competition law, a field that up to now has defied all attempts of harmonisation beyond those categories as identified by Friedrich Zoll and implemented as Art. 10bis in the Paris Convention. This book features both comparative and country-specific chapters. The latter cover the major jurisdictions of Europe and Asia, while the former provide a subject-matter analysis by taking into account legislation and case law in a global context.