Employee inventions: employee remuneration

The majority of inventions made in France are the work of private-sector employees or public-sector employees. The law provides for a system of classification of these inventions, which in practice constitutes the key to dividing the related rights between the employee and the employer. When the right to file a patent application is granted to the employer, the law provides for a financial consideration for the employee:

• a performance-related bonus treated as a wage supplement, referred to as "additional remuneration", when the invention has been made in accordance with the employee's inventive mission (known as a "mission invention");

• a claim to a sum of money, known as the "fair price", when the invention was made during the employment relationship without the employee having been given an inventive mission (known as an "out-of-mission" invention, i.e. attributable to the employer).

The purpose of this sheet is to present the principles and practices governing the calculation of additional remuneration and fair pricing.