美国职务发明权属规则之演变及其启示

Enlightenment from the Evolution of Ownership Rules of Service Invention in the United States

美国职务发明权利归属经历了从归属发明人向“发明前转让协议”支配的演变,且在政府资助领域完成了从“约定”到“法定”的转移。其中揭示的一般性规律在于:职务发明权利归属是取决于人力资源稀缺性还是更取决于物资资源稀缺性的社会条件。同时还表明企业主导和政府资助发明是现代国家科技创新的两种方式,且因政府资助发明领域涉及多元主体和多元利益,关于其发明成果权利归属的法律制度安排应有所不同。受此启示,在我国职务发明人与单位契约地位不平等及利益失衡的情况下,专利法应为职务发明人提供兜底性保障;为促进我国科技成果转化利用,应完善政府资助领域职务发明人利益分享机制和相关配套制度立法,并宜在专利法之外通过特别法的方式予以推进。

The ownership of Service Invention in the United States has undergone an evolution from the inventor to employer, and has completed the transfer from “agreement” to “statutory” in the field of government funding. The general rule revealed here is: the ownership of Service Invention depends on the social condition of the scarcity of human resources or material resources. At the same time, it also shows that enterprise-led and government-funded models are the two major models of science and technology innovation in modern states. As the government-funded invention involves multiple subjects and multiple interests, the legislations regarding the ownership of the inventions should be different. Inspired by those, based on the situation of unequal contractual status and unbalanced interests between inventors and units in China, the Patent Law should provide safeguards to ensure the inventors’ benefits;in order to promote the transformation and utilization of scientific and technological achievements,the benefit-sharing mechanism and related supporting system legislation should be promoted through special laws.