Les brevets conjoints : panacée pour l’innovation ou boîte de Pandore juridique?
Globalization has encouraged the development of collaborative innovation, leading to an increased number of partnerships between various actors. Because of their multiple benefits, joint projects play a key role in the economic and industrial development of high value-added sectors. In this context, the creation or quantification of value by collaborative innovation depends largely on the ability to market innovations having an adequate intellectual property protection. Thus, the global trend shows a significant increase in joint filings of patent applications between various entities. These co-filings raise a variety of legal issues, since the statutory schemes are not necessarily adapted to the reality of partnerships. First, the incomplete schemes provided by laws do not anticipate the legal consequences of the interaction between different actors. The variety of stakeholder configurations and types of partnerships leads to confusion between the inventors and the owners when filing a patent application. This situation can also lead to de facto co-ownership of a patent, which may result in disputes and undermine the tremendous value of joint patents. In addition, the statutory schemes are also deficient at the stage of the exploitation of a joint patent. By comparing the Canadian and American legal schemes, it becomes possible to better identify the legal issues associated with the questions presented during the development of a partnership. To achieve successful outcomes from joint patents, a contractual framework is proposed to overcome these statutory gaps. Through the use of contractual tools and pre-contract planning, joint owners can realize the enormous potential of this institution.
collaboration(s) Intellectual property joint property patent(s) co-owner(s) co-inventor(s) collaboration(s) open innovation