离职员工利用原单位技术秘密所申请专利的归属研究  

A Study on the Ownership of Patents Filed by Former Employee Utilizing Technical Secrets from Previous Employer

作　　者：黄武双[1] Huang Wushuang

机构地区：[1]华东政法大学

出　　处：《知识产权》2024年第11期3-17,共15页Intellectual Property

摘　　要：离职员工在原单位技术秘密基础上研发具有实质性进步的技术方案,以新单位名义申请的专利,认定该专利权归属于新单位与侵犯商业秘密的逻辑不一致,应当认定归属于原单位所有。由于离职员工违反保密义务,在新单位返还专利权时,不得以不当得利为由请求返还投入的研发费用。《专利法实施细则》第13条第1款第3项规定,离职员工在离职之日起1年内申请的与在原单位承担的本职工作或者原单位分配的任务有关的发明创造应当归属于原单位。该规定不合理。离职员工申请的与在原单位承担的本职工作或者原单位分配的任务有关的发明创造,不管申请时间是否超过离职员工从原单位离职之日起1年,都应当归属于原单位。当然,新单位通过反向工程获取的技术信息,并不侵犯技术秘密专有权,但是反向工程应当遵守净室程序规则。If former employees develop significantly improved technological solutions based on the technical secrets from their former employers and apply for patents under the name of the new employer,the determination that the ownership of such patents belong to the new employer contradicts the principles underlying misappropriation of trade secrets,and such patents should therefore be attributed to the former employer.Due to former employees'breach of confidentiality obligations,when such patent rights reassigned to the new employer,they are not allowed to recover R&D costs from the new employer on the grounds of unjust enrichment.Article 13 of the Implementing Regulations of the Chinese Patent Law provides that invention and creation patents filed by the former employee which related to the work or tasks assigned by the original unit within one year from the date of resignation shall belong to the former employer.This provision is unreasonable.Any employee's invention or creation related to the job or task assigned by the former employer should be attributed to the former employer,regardless of whether the patent application is filed within one year from the date of the employee's resignation.Of course,the technical information obtained by the new employer through reverse engineering does not misappropriate trade secrets,while reverse engineering should comply with the cleanroom procedure rules.

关 键 词：技术秘密 专利 不洁之手 费用型不当得利 恶意抗辩 

分 类 号：D923.42[政治法律—民商法学]