智慧財產權月刊 237 期

6 107.09 智慧財產權月刊 VOL.237 本月專題 專利歸屬有關法制及契約、救濟途徑案例之探討 壹、前言 有關員工、受聘人發明制度於法律體系上涉及民法、勞動法與專利法問題， 近代各國之立法例有於民法規範者﹙例如：俄羅斯﹚、有於普通法規範者﹙例如： 美國﹚、有獨立特別立法者﹙例如：德國於 1957 年 7 月 25 日通過施行之「員工 發明法（ Act on Employees Inventions ，下稱 AEI ）」、有於智慧財產權法典規範 者﹙例如：法國﹚，然多數則規定於專利法中﹙例如：英國、西班牙、日本、中 國大陸以及我國﹚。從發明本身而言，因其發明而取得之專利固應歸屬於員工或 受聘人，然如何調和雇主或出資人之利益以符合公平，則須於立法上予以明定。 有關專利歸屬之規範內涵 2 ，不但影響創作人之權益，更攸關國家社會經濟之發 展，例如，近年來中國大陸加速經濟推展，其企業在國際上大舉進行併購，原計 畫藉此方式快速提升其企業技術水準；然因德國專利法採發明人主義，專利法規 定發明之初始權利人為該發明之人 3 。但如果該發明為職務之發明則須依 AEI 之 規定來認定 4 。且 AEI 於 2009 年修正前係規定，關於職務發明，如雇主未於期間 內向員工主張權利時，該發明將歸屬發明之員工所有 5 ，亦即在此規範之下，並 非所有之專利權均歸屬雇主企業所有，故縱然併購了企業卻仍無法取得其先進技 2 本文所稱之專利歸屬係包括專利申請權及專利權。 3 Germany Patent Act Section 6 ： The right to a patent shall belong to the inventor or his successor in title. If two or more persons have jointly made an invention, the right to the patent shall belong to them jointly. If Service provided by the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection in cooperation with juris GmbH two or more persons have made the invention independently of each other, the right shall belong to the person who is the first to file the application in respect of the invention with the German Patent and Trade Mark Office. 4 AEI 4. Service Inventions and Free Inventions (1) Employee inventions within the meaning of this Law may be either tied or free. (2) Tied inventions (service inventions) are those made during the term of employment which: (i) either resulted from the employee's tasks in the private enterprise or in the public authority, (ii) or are essentially based upon the experience or activities of the enterprise or public authority. 5 AEI 7. Effect of the Claim (1) On the receipt of a written declaration of an unlimited claim, all rights in the service invention shall pass to the employer. (2) On the receipt of a written declaration of a limited claim, a non-exclusive right to use the service invention shall pass to the employer. Should an employer's right of use unreasonably impede an employee's further exploitation of his invention, the employee may request that, within a period of two months, his employer either make an unlimited claim to the service invention or release it to the employee. (3) Dispositions of a service invention made by an employee before his employer has declared a claim, shall have no effect on his employer, insofar as the employer's rights are concerned.