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TITLE IV EMPLOYEE INVENTIONS 15. (1) Inventions made by an employee during the term of his contract, work or service with a company, and which are the result of research that is explicitly or implicitly the object of his contract, shall belong to the employer. (2) An employee responsible as an inventor shall have no right to additional remuneration for his achievement, except where his personal contribution to the invention and its importance to the company obviously go beyond the explicit or implicit terms of his contract or work. 16. Inventions that do not fulfill the conditions provided for in Article 15(1), above, shall belong to the employee who is their author. 17. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 16, above, where the employee makes an invention related to his professional activity and the knowledge gained within the company has had a decisive influence thereon or he has used means provided by the company, the employer shall have the right to claim ownership of the invention or to reserve a right to its use. (2) Where the employer claims ownership of an invention or reserves a right to its use, the employee shall have the right to equitable financial remuneration fixed in relation to the invention's industrial and commercial importance and taking into account the value of the means or knowledge provided by the company and the contribution made by the employee himself. 18. (1) An employee who makes any of the inventions mentioned in Articles 15 and 17, above, shall duly inform the employer in writing, setting out the necessary data and information so that the latter may, within a period of three months, exercise the relevant rights. Failure to fulfill this obligation shall lead to loss of the rights recognized to the employee under this Title. (2) Both the employer and the employee shall collaborate to the extent necessary for the rights recognized under the present Title to have effect and shall abstain from any act that might be prejudicial to those rights. 19. (1) Inventions for which a patent application or other title of exclusive protection has been filed within a year following expiry of the work or service relationship may be claimed by the employer. (2) Any advance renunciation of the rights granted to the employee by the Law under this Title shall be null and void. 20. (1) The provisions of the present Title shall apply to civil servants, employees and workers of the State, Autonomous Communities, provinces, municipalities and other public bodies, without prejudice to the provisions of the following paragraphs. (2) Ownership of inventions made by a professor as a result of his research responsibilities in a university and which come within the scope of his teaching and research functions shall belong to the university, without prejudice to the provisions laid down in Article 11 of the Institutional Act on University Reform [Ley Organica de Reforma Universitaria]. (3) Any invention under the terms of paragraph (2), above, shall immediately be notified to the university by the professor who is its author. (4) The professor shall nevertheless have the right to participate in the benefits gained by the university from working or assigning its rights in an invention under the terms of paragraph (2), above. The university statutes shall define the terms and amount of such participation. (5) The university may assign ownership of an invention under the terms of paragraph (2), above, to the professor who is its author, in which case it may keep a non-exclusive, untransferable and gratuitous license. (6) Where a professor derives benefits from working an invention under the terms of paragraph (5), above, the university shall have the right to participate therein to an extent defined by the university statutes. (7) Where a professor makes an invention as a result of a contract with a State or private body, the contract shall specify which of the contracting parties owns the invention. (8) The regulations laid down in paragraphs (2) and (7) of the present Article may also be applicable to inventions by research staff in public research bodies. (9) The terms and amount of participation by research staff of public research bodies in the benefits derived from working or assigning their rights in inventions under the terms of paragraph (8) of the present Article shall be fixed by the Government, taking into account the specific characteristics of each research body.

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