2. Verify ownership of rights to company creations

In principle, every creation belongs to its author, even if he or she is an employee of a company.

By way of exception, in the case of patentable inventions, the employer is the owner of the rights when the creation has been made by an employee either in the performance of an employment contract involving an inventive mission corresponding to his actual duties, or of studies and research explicitly entrusted to him by the employer.

A similar regime applies to software, where the employer's economic rights are vested in the author when software and its documentation are created by an employee in the course of his or her duties, or on the employer's instructions.

In the absence of an inventive mission or instructions, the employer can also be awarded a patentable invention when it is made by an employee either in the...