There was a dispute between an inventor and the liquidator of a company concerning ownership of patents. The liquidator’s claim was that under Dutch law the inventions had been made on terms that the patents ought to belong to the company. He demanded that the inventor should be ordered to transfer not only the Dutch patent, but also the corresponding patents in 22 other countries, including five which had adhered to the Brussels Convention.
Held: To make the order would not violate Article 16(4) of the Convention. The validity of the patents was not being challenged. Nor was the conduct of the various national authorities whose business it was to keep the patent registers. Nor was the liquidator seeking an order directing those authorities to rectify their registers in the light of Dutch law. Instead, the liquidator was asking for an order which would have required the inventor himself to apply to rectify the registers: an order in personam.
Citations:
C-288/82, [1983] ECR 3663
Cited by:
Cited – R Griggs Group Ltd and others v Evans and others (No 2) ChD 12-May-2004
A logo had been created for the claimants, by an independent sub-contractor. They sought assignment of their legal title, but, knowing of the claimant’s interest the copyright was assigned to a third party out of the jurisdiction. The claimant . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European, Intellectual Property
Updated: 11 April 2022; Ref: scu.133530