Minds at Work: Employed Inventors Ideas for a Therapeutic Patent System
| Autor | Lorna M Velez Gomez |
| Cargo | Obtained her J.D. in 2013 from the University of Puerto Rico School of Law and her B.A in Sociology from University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in 2009 |
| Páginas | 46-58 |
MINDS AT WORK: EMPLOYED INVENTORS’ IDEAS FOR A
THERAPEUTIC PATENT SYSTEM
*LORNA M. VÉLEZ GÓMEZ
Abstract
Employed inventors generally reserve no intellectual property rights and
very limited monetary rights for themselves when they assign their patents to their
employers. Applying the theoretical framework known as Therapeutic
Jurisprudence, this study contemplates the possibility of greater employee
productivity through the satisfaction of their self-interest and thus, of national
economic development by stimulating innovation. By conducting a qualitative
analysis of the responses of ten inventors to a web-based, mostly open-ended
questionnaire, we were able to explore therapeutic alternatives to this one-sided
patent scheme. Results show that inventors desire monetary compensation based
on employer’s patent related revenue wish to reserve some rights that might be
construed as moral rights for themselves, and find apologies and public admissions
to be significant remedies in patent related conflicts. The results of this study are
important to prac titioners and legislators alike, as it recommends solutions on a
private and public level.
I. INTRODUCTION
At the time of writing, since the first application was filed in 1974, there
have been 354 applications and 353 issued patents where the assignee’s state is
Puerto Rico.
1
Why would a country with nearly four million inhabitants have less
*The author obtained her J.D. in 2013 from the University of Puerto Rico School of La w and
her B.A in Sociology from University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. in 2009. The author wishes
to express her eternal d ebt to the inventors that took time out of their busy professional and
personal schedules to share their opinions with her and thank them, for without them this
study would not have been possible. She would like to also thank the UPRBLJ Board of
Editors for their thoughtful comments and revisions.
1
U.S.P.T.O. Patent Full-Text and Image Database, http://patft. uspto.gov/netahtml
/PTO/search-adv.htm (April 22, 2013).
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