Compensation for Employees’ Objects of Patent Law in Russia and England

Abstract

In the system of patent law, the institution of employees’ inventions occupies a central place. Despite the fact that this institution is regulated quite successfully in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the domestic legislator still fails to eliminate the disproportion of compensation received by employees in case of the creation of inventions, utility models and industrial designs.

The article analyzes the procedure for paying compensation to employed inventors under the law of Russia and England. First of all, the author gives a detailed analysis of the Resolution of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 1848 of November 16, 2020, which establishes the Rules for the Payment of Compensation for Employees’ Inventions, Utility Models and Industrial Designs. Further, this Resolution is compared with the provisions of the UK Patent Act 1977, according to which the payment of compensation for an employee’s invention is allowed only if the employer has managed to extract an "outstanding" profit from the corresponding patent. The English approach to the regulation of the institution is also illustrated by the most important judicial practice. As a conclusion, the author of the article makes a proposal for further improvement of the domestic regulation, relying on the model implemented in England.