WebPatent Journal

In the past, research was carried out primarily by employees who had an obligation to assign ownership of their inventions to the same employer.  It was often the case that an employee conceived an improvement to another employee’s invention that might be deemed obvious (and, hence, unpatentable) in view of the original invention.  To avoid [...]

The ownership of inventions that are conceived or first actually reduced to practice in performance of a U.S. Government-funded experimental, developmental or research project by a small business (e.g., a person or company) or a nonprofit organization (e.g., a university) is controlled by the Bayh-Dole Act.  With technology inventions (e.g., machines, articles of manufacture, compositions [...]