The Ownership and Protection of Multinational Inventions – in particular Inventions Resulting from Publicly Funded Research

The increase of international cooperation in research and development is resulting in more inventions being the outcome of such cooperation. The EU is supportive of these developments and has set up rules to administer this internationalisation.

However, neither Regulation (EU) 1290/2013 nor any other legislative measure provides for harmonisation with national law on inventorship, assignment, and patent filing requirements for multinational inventions. This legal complexity hampers efficiency and leads to legal uncertainty with respect to the choice of law(s) governing inventorship.

As it stands, ALLEA observes the lack of harmonisation and invites the European Commission to:

(i) analyse the effect of diverging national rules on inventorship, assignment, and patent filing requirements on research and development in the EU;
(ii) assess the appropriate scope and substance of legislative measures and remedies at EU level;
(iii) initiate discussions with regard to the prospect and feasibility of adopting harmonised legal instruments on the international level.