Industrial Property Law

Inventions on assignment are inventions implemented by the employee in the performance of either an employment contract involving an inventive project corresponding to his or her actual duties, or studies and research explicitly entrusted to him or her (Article L. 611-7, 1° IP Code) . “Mission inventions” (i.e. on assignment by the employer) belong to the employer (Article L. 611-7, 1° IP Code), ab initio, without transfer of ownership. The employer is the sole owner of the right to the patent . The invention itself, i.e. the intellectual asset, is the employer's property, whether or not it is patented provided it is patentable .

The inventive mission may be included in the employment contract . Failing this, the employer who claims ownership of the invention must establish the existence of a specific mission entrusted to the employee . This has been interpreted broadly by case law. An example of such an assignment is when a team leader verbally asks employees whose usual task is not to take part in research work, to think about finding a solution to a technical problem , or when an undertaking assigns a project to one of its subsidiaries and extends it to another subsidiary, whose employees regularly report to their manager on the progress of their work and its results, and communicate regularly with an engineer from the first subsidiary .

The invention must have been realized during the period of the mission, or the invention process must have progressed sufficiently and not merely be underway during the performance of the employment contract  even if the patent is filed at a later date . An employee who has contributed in kind an invention registered before the start date of his or her employment contract is not considered to have made a “mission invention” giving him or her the right to additional remuneration .

The court is free to decide, on the basis of the facts and evidence, whether the disputed inventions constitute mission inventions. The judgment must be based on the duties actually performed by the employee, even if an organizational diagram may serve as a guideline .

Cass. com. 9 December 2014, LawLex202200000641JBJ; CA Paris, 27 March 2024, LawLex202400002778JBJ.

Cass. com, 5 January 2022, LawLex202200009679JBJI.

Cass. soc., 5 May 2004, LawLex202200000637JBJ.

Cass. soc., 3 May 2018, LawLex201800000663JBJ, which specifies that the payment of additional remuneration to the employee inventor depends on the patentability of the invention.

Cass. soc., 21 September 2011, LawLex202200001852JBJ.

See e.g. Cass. com. 3 June 2008, LawLex202200010446JBJ.

Cass. com. 13 January 1998, LawLex202200010217JBJ.

See e.g. Cass. com, 3 June 2008, LawLex202200010446JBJ.

CA Paris, 30 June 2015, LawLex202200000642JBJ.

Cass. com, 10 September 2013, LawLex202200001131JBJ.

Cass. soc., 2 June 2010, LawLex202200010218JBJ.

247. Inventive missions/Studies and research