The court considered the position at common law of an employee claiming to patent his invention: ‘It is elementary that, where the employee in the course of his employment (ie in his employer’s time and with his materials) makes an invention which falls within his duty to make (as was the case here) he holds his interest in the invention, and in any resulting patent, as trustee for the employer unless he can show that he has a beneficial interest which the law recognises.’ The source of an employee’s duty is primarily contractual, though some of the terms are implied by law.
Judges:
Viscount Simonds
Citations:
(1955) 72 RPC 50
Cited by:
Cited – Liffe Administration and Management v Pinkava and Another CA 15-Mar-2007
The employee had patented in the US a trading system he invented whilst employed by the defendant, who now sought ownership. He appealed a finding that the inventions had been made during the normal course of his employment. The employment contract . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment, Intellectual Property
Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.250558