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Should Inventions Be Automatically Owned By Your Employer?

An anonymous reader writes "Joshua Simmons authored an article for the N.Y.U. Journal of Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law. The article is a comparison of the developments in copyright law and patent law in the nineteenth century that resulted in copyright law developing a work made for hire doctrine while patent law only developed a patch work of judge-made employment doctrines. The article theorizes that patent law did not develop an inventions made for hire doctrine, because inventive activity was almost exclusively perceived to be performed by individuals. It goes on to suggest that, as patentable inventions today are generally perceived to be invented collaboratively, the Patent Act should be amended to borrow from the Copyright Act and adopt a principle similar to the work made for hire doctrine."

2 of 291 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Depends .... by Phrogman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Life outside of work - I call that *sleep* usually...

    --
    "The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
  2. Re:A rate should be set at hire by Alex+Belits · · Score: 3, Funny

    Please re-read what you just said. You just made a great argument against what you are arguing for.

    --
    Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.