Section 2: Right to title

If the inventor is an employee, the right to the industrial property title, in the absence of a contractual stipulation more favourable to the employee, is defined according to the following provisions:

1. Inventions made by the employee in the performance either of an employment contract including an inventive mission corresponding to his actual duties, or of studies and research explicitly entrusted to him, belong to the employer. The employer shall inform the employee who is the author of such an invention when the latter is the subject of an application for an industrial property title and when the title is issued, where applicable. The conditions under which the employee, author of an invention belonging to the employer, benefits from additional remuneration are determined by collective agreements, company agreements and individual employment contracts.

If the employer is not subject to a branch collective agreement, any dispute relating to additional remuneration shall be submitted to the conciliation commission instituted by article L. 615-21 or to the judicial court.

2. All other inventions belong to the employee. However, where an invention is made by an employee either in the course of the performance of his duties, or in the field of the company's activities, or through the knowledge or use of techniques or means specific to the company, or of data provided by it, the employer shall have the right, under conditions and time limits laid down by decree of the Conseil d'Etat, to be granted ownership or enjoyment of all or part of the rights attached to the patent protecting his employee's invention.

The employee must obtain a fair price which, in the absence of agreement between the parties, is set by the conciliation commission instituted by article L. 615-21 or by the judicial court: the latter will take into consideration any elements that may be provided to them in particular by the employer and by the employee, in order to calculate the fair price both on the basis of the initial contributions of both parties and on the basis of the industrial and commercial usefulness of the invention.

3. An employee who is the author of an invention shall inform his employer, who shall acknowledge receipt in accordance with the procedures and time limits laid down by regulation.

The employee and the employer must provide each other with all useful information on the invention in question. They must refrain from any disclosure likely to compromise in whole or in part the exercise of the rights conferred by this Book.

Any agreement between the employee and his employer relating to an employee invention must, on pain of nullity, be recorded in writing.

4. The detailed rules for the application of this article shall be laid down by decree in the Conseil d'Etat.

5. The provisions of this article shall also apply to employees of the State, public authorities and any other legal entities governed by public law, in accordance with the terms and conditions laid down by decree in the Conseil d'Etat.

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