The most significant of the proposed changes is the replacement of the current requirement that employers have to claim the rights to the inventions made by their employees.
The current law states that employees must inform their employers about any invention they make. This information must be filed as an invention disclosure in writing and signed by the inventors. The employer then has to claim the rights to the invention within four months of receiving the invention disclosure.
If the invention not be claimed within this period it becomes the inventor’s private property and he or she is entitled to file a patent or utility model application and to licence the invention to other companies, including competitors.
Under the proposed changes, employers will no longer be obliged to actively claim the rights to the invention. Instead, the rights will be automatically transferred to the employer once the four month period has expired.
Other changes being discussed include the ability to file an invention disclosure by email and mobile phone text.
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