[Pharm-policy] Reasonable royalties in German Law Relating to Inventions Made by Employees

[James Love]

http://www.law.washington.edu/casrip/newsletter/newsv4i3gross.html

Actual Royalty Rates in Patent-, Know-How- and Computerprogram-License
Agreements
by Dr. Michael Gross, Attorney at Law, Munich, Germany
1998

a) In Germany, there exists the so-called "Law Relating to Inventions
Made by Employees." This law determines that inventions made by emloyees
belong to them . Only by a special act and in conjuction with a special
remuneration can they become the property of the employer. The
remuneration for the invention can be calculated by three methods. The
most usual method to caculate the inventorīs remuneration is the
so-called "license analogy." The inventor receives a certain percentage,
based on the net sales made by the employer, of a reasonable royalty.
Number 10 of the so-called  "remuneration guidelines" (added to the Law
Relating to
Inventions Made by Employees" ) provides examples for reasonable
royalties:

Electronics 0.5 - 5 %
Machinery 0. 33 - 10 %
Chemical 2 - 5 %
Pharmaceutical 2 - 10 %.


-- 
James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
v. 1.202.387.8030, fax 1.202.234.5176
love@cptech.org, http://www.cptech.org