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Section 20

Inventions made by an employee or pursuant to a commission

of Patents Act 1983

ActIn forceProvision 21 of 141
Section 20
(1)

In the absence of any provisions to the contrary in any contract of employment or for the execution of work, the rights to a patent for an invention made in the performance of such contract of employment or in the execution of such work shall be deemed to accrue to the employer, or the person who commissioned the work, as the case may be:

Provided that where the invention acquires an economic value much greater than the parties could reasonably have foreseen at the time of concluding the contract of employment or for the execution of work, as the case may be, the inventor shall be entitled to equitable remuneration which may be fixed by the Court in the absence of agreement between the parties.

(2)

Where an employee whose contract of employment does not require him to engage in any inventive activity makes, in the field of activities of his employer, an invention using data or means placed at his disposal by his employer, the right to the patent for such invention shall be deemed to accrue to the employer in the absence of any provision to the contrary in the contract of employment:

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Provided that the employee shall be entitled to equitable remuneration which, in the absence of agreement between the parties, may be fixed by the Court taking into account his emoluments, the economic value of the invention and any benefit derived from it by the employer.

(3)

The rights conferred on the inventor under subsections (1)

and (2) shall not be restricted by contract.