Study On Patent Right Ownership

With the development market economy and deepening of knowledge economy, patent right is gradually coming into public view. There are various researches and studies on patent right ownership and they have provided some guidance for practical problems. After the entry into WTO, the biggest problem facing us is the protection of intellectual property rights. As in recent years, China frequently faces the intellectual property rights disputes. Therefore, China has to pay attention to the protection of intellectual property rights. Patent right, copy right and trademark right are the narrow sense of intellectual property right. Among the intellectual property rights, patent right is the one with strongest regional feature and the one with most likelihood for disputes. Comparing the current domestic and foreign studies, the domestic studieson patent right have certain shortcomings, especially the in-depth and details of patent right ownership.In addition, with the development of economy and emerge of new technologies, the laws and regulation of patent right ownership are outdated. Therefore, it is very necessary for the study of patent right ownership. Through adequate study on patent right ownership and detail instructions on some areas that tend to have disputes, the actual disputes can be reduced. The study of patent right ownership also reflects the attention to intellectual property rights and the promotion of economic development from law.This paper briefly describes the characteristics and features of patent right, studies the legislation and judicature of intellectual property ownership under common law system and civil law system, and compares the philosophy and features of patent right ownershipbetween the two law systems and China’s law system. The common law system, America as the representative, has experienced a gradual process from inventor-oriented to enterprise-oriented. In the end of19th century cases, the court accepted that the enterprise requires the invention ownership to be transferred from employee to enterprise, but still maintained strict control on employee invention. In civil law system, Germany and Japan as the representatives, it followsthe principle of "employee-oriented" and "naturally belongs to the inventor", that is, the original right of employee invention belongs to employee. The right of employee invention belongs to employee only in case that the enterprise raises claims for right according to law regulations. However, the enterprise shall make a choice between enjoying right and paying remuneration. China’s patent legislation is relatively late. Because of adapting the legislation experience of developed countries under common law system and civil law system, China’s patent law is relatively advanced. However, because of China’s nationals and enterprises have relatively weak awareness in intellectual property rights, the formation of advanced legislation is in lack of high-quality foundation, and therefore, the result of law enforcement is not ideal. Accordingly, the author puts forward some problems of China’s patent right ownership, such aspoor applicability of patent system, weakstimulation for employee invention, and bubbles during patent application. Through analysis and study on the problems found, the author raises personal thoughts and suggestions on the legislation, judicature, and execution, such as the reviseof some articles inthe patent law and the implementation regulations of patent law. In addition, the author expresses some opinions regarding employee invention and ownership share of patent right.This paper studies the patent right ownership in legal and social angles and aims to offer reference for patent managementimprovement of enterprises, society and country.