Re: [issues] Patents (was: RMS boycott of Amazon)

[Kelly Lynn Martin]

On Sat, 18 Dec 1999 00:30:06 -0800 (PST), Andross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:

>there are a lot of legal options here... most employees sign a
>contract that diverts all their IP to their employer (remember Woz in
>Pirates of Sillicon valley?), and then the employer can be the patent
>holder, but not the signee (i think those are the terms)... so the
>author gets verbal credit, but not rights to license...

Actually, that's more a consequence of federal patent law.
Corporations cannot file for patents.  Inventors -- natural persons -- 
file for patents.  They can assign the patent to their employer (and
in fact are often required to by their contracts) but only a natural
person can be awarded a patent.

Believe me, if the law allowed it corporations would file the patents
in their own name and cut the inventor out of the loop entirely.

Kelly

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