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October 17, 2006
Inventors win in Japan
Who owns your ideas, you or the company you work for? Well, in Japan it depends on the terms of your contract.
From Wall Street Journal - Japan Ruling Favors Inventor In Patent Dispute With Hitachi:
Japan's Supreme Court recognized the intellectual property rights of employees who invent products in a landmark ruling Tuesday, ordering Hitachi Ltd. to pay ¥163 million ($1.4 million) to a former worker.
The court backed a January 2004 high court decision that awarded the payment to Seiji Yonezawa who invented technology for reading compact discs and digital video discs while working for the electronics maker, a court official said.
"This is a historic ruling, a first for Japan," said Hidetoshi Masunaga, Mr. Yonezawa's lawyer. He noted that the compensation was much more than the ¥118,000 Hitachi initially gave his client for the invention. "It's simply fantastic."
Hitachi said in a statement that it found the Supreme Court ruling "regrettable." "We fear that this decision may greatly hinder the research development and business efforts of Japanese companies," it said.
In Japan -- a nation that once embraced a tradition of worker loyalty under which employees were guaranteed a job for life but weren't rewarded on performance -- there has been a rise in intellectual property lawsuits by employees in recent years. Some companies don't spell out terms of patent royalty payments in employment contracts, and their scientists have started to complain that they are not adequately compensated for their lucrative inventions.
. . .
Earlier this year, Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp. settled a lawsuit over a flash memory chip patent claimed by a former employee, agreeing to pay him ¥87 million.
My guess is that every Japanese worker will soon be asked to sign an American style contract that signs all IP rights to the company.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at October 17, 2006 10:51 AM
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