Legal Improvements on Protecting the Inventions of Employees

Belgrade, 6 November 2019

The Law on Amendments to the Patent Law (Zakon o izmenama i dopunama Zakona o patentima) (“2019 Amendments“) effective from 26 September 2019 has the purpose to improve the legal framework primarily in the field of protection and exploitation of inventions arising from the employment relationship.

An invention arising from the employment relationship is defined under the law and means an invention created by the employee by performing the employment tasks.

The 2019 Amendments provides that the employee and the employer should agree on the amount and manner of payment compensation to the employee. If such agreement is not provided in the employment agreement then the compensation criteria are provided by law.

The employee who creates an invention arising from the employment relationship is obliged to submit a written report to the employer immediately upon the invention is created. Consequently, the 2019 Amendments set forth the obligation of both the employer and the employee to inform and cooperate with each other regarding the protection of the invention in question at home and/or abroad.