Creative and IP rights · France and Switzerland : separate country-labelled rules
Employee inventions: ownership and notification
An employee invention is not an ordinary unpaid-bonus dispute. France distinguishes categories linked to the inventive mission and the circumstances of creation; Switzerland applies its own employment-invention rules. Compare the employment duties, technical work, resources, notification and employer response. Additional remuneration, acquisition of rights and ownership must be analysed under the relevant country's regime rather than translated as identical benefits.
- Contractual inventive duties
- Creation circumstances
- Employer notification
- Employer's response
- Official texts cited
- Sources checked on
- Drafted with AI assistance, our method
General legal information with official references and dated checks. It is not personalised advice: for a decision that commits you, have your situation checked by a qualified professional.
Julie by AlphaDeep
Which creation circumstances matter?
Record resources, research, business context and chronology without publishing sensitive technical details.
Read the referencesYour question concerns “Employee inventions: ownership and notification”. I can help organise the facts and records. Which document have you received or prepared, and is this a French or Swiss matter?
3 free questions at signup. Avoid names and sensitive information.
Was inventing part of the employee's duties?
Compare the contract with actual assigned work. A job title alone does not settle ownership or remuneration.
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
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Indicate which records you have. The result identifies gaps and prepares a complete question for Julie, without requiring an account.
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Point to complete: Employer's response. Identify the classification and rights claimed. French L611-7 requires the relevant employee-invention agreements in writing.
- Contractual inventive duties
- Record available
- Creation circumstances
- Record available
- Employer notification
- Record available
- Employer's response
- Needs checking
- Records indicated
- 3 / 4
- What does the employer's answer establish?
This worksheet organises records; it does not establish admissibility, entitlement or a procedural outcome.
Which creation circumstances matter?
Record resources, research, business context and chronology without publishing sensitive technical details.
Which documents answer which questions?
| Record or information | Issue to check |
|---|---|
| Contractual inventive duties | Compare the contract with actual assigned work. A job title alone does not settle ownership or remuneration. |
| Creation circumstances | Record resources, research, business context and chronology without publishing sensitive technical details. |
| Employer notification | French R611-1 requires immediate notification. Preserve what was sent, its recipient and evidence of receipt. |
| Employer's response | Identify the classification and rights claimed. French L611-7 requires the relevant employee-invention agreements in writing. |
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
How is the employer notified in France?
French R611-1 requires immediate notification. Preserve what was sent, its recipient and evidence of receipt.
What does the employer's answer establish?
Identify the classification and rights claimed. French L611-7 requires the relevant employee-invention agreements in writing.
How do French remuneration routes differ?
Mission inventions and conditionally employer-allocated inventions have different remuneration or fair-price mechanisms. No universal royalty percentage follows.
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
Which official provision helps explain this situation?
Le salarié auteur d'une invention en fait immédiatement la déclaration à l'employeur.
In plain English: Compare the contract with actual assigned work. A job title alone does not settle ownership or remuneration.
What does Swiss CO 332 distinguish?
In-duty inventions and other in-service inventions follow different conditions. The latter acquisition reservation requires writing and its own notification/decision framework.
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
Which figures belong in the file?
Collect the agreement, payments and stated valuation criteria. Do not infer a fixed patent-value or salary percentage.
What can the ownership worksheet conclude?
It organises duties, creation, notice and response. It does not finally classify the invention or resolve contractual attribution.
What other questions arise in this file?
Which creation circumstances matter?
Record resources, research, business context and chronology without publishing sensitive technical details.
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
What does the employer's answer establish?
Identify the classification and rights claimed. French L611-7 requires the relevant employee-invention agreements in writing.
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
How do French remuneration routes differ?
Mission inventions and conditionally employer-allocated inventions have different remuneration or fair-price mechanisms. No universal royalty percentage follows.
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
Which figures belong in the file?
Collect the agreement, payments and stated valuation criteria. Do not infer a fixed patent-value or salary percentage.
Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1220 : Art. 332220 : Art. 321 aINPI : Déclarer une invention de salarié
Which official references should you consult?
- Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. L611-7Légifrance
- Code de la propriété intellectuelle art. R611-1Légifrance
- 220 : Art. 332Fedlex
- 220 : Art. 321 aFedlex
- INPI : Déclarer une invention de salariéSource officielle
Texts cited last checked: 1 November 2026