Opinion: Inventing the rules on service inventions
| BY
clpstaff &clp articlesFor the first time, draft Regulations on service inventions have given a procedural framework for defining and reporting inventions, but they are hampered by a lack of clarity
A basic principle relating to service inventions is that an employee, as the inventor, should be reasonably awarded and remunerated for the invention created. Major laws and regulations like the PRC Patent Law (中华人民共和国专利法) govern service inventions and reflect this principle. But the provisions under these pieces of legislation are general and sometimes difficult to enforce.
On November 12 2012, China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) released the Service Invention Regulations (Draft) (国家知识产权局职务发明条例 (草案)) for public comments. The Regulations may embody SIPO's first attempt to clearly and in detail define and regulate the legal rights of employers and employees in terms of service inventions created in China.
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