I don't think I've made any point yet; I'm mostly fishing for information from people who actually do know things, and trying to figure out if what's on my mind makes any sense. Two possible advantages (for people) of individual ownership of patents over corporate ownership:
Contracts require consideration. If I own something and sign a contract with you that allows you exclusive control over it, then I have to be getting something in return. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that there's some restrictions on consideration that can render a contract void if it is incredibly lopsided. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that a contract exchanging an invention earning billions per year for a five figure salary and a position that can be terminated on a whim might not be a valid contract. I really don't know about that though.
The other nice thing about personal ownership of copyrights and patents is that it makes the whole retroactive copyright extension and post-mortem copyright assignment transparently illegal. If only the creator of a work gets the monopoly over its distribution, then the termination of the creator must entail the termination of the monopoly. I'm very much not a fan of eternal copyright, so that alone would make me a bit happier.
I think I've probably threadjacked this way too far, so I'll just shut up now. Maybe I'll start a blog somewhere where you can rip holes in my half-assed ideas without us bothering anybody else :)
Only extremely rarely does a billion-dollar invention arise. When an employee signs an invention-assignment agreement with his/her employer, the employer is on the hook (usually) for a known salary, benefits, etc., in exchange for which the inventor is giving up his rights in inventions of unpredictable number and -significance. That usually gives the employer the bargaining power.
It's not always that way: I once had a software-company client that paid commissions to its product architects; the architect of one of the company's flagship products ended up making a ton of money, as did its shareholders. Sadly, companies that can do this successfully are few and far between.
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I don't think I've made any point yet; I'm mostly fishing for information from people who actually do know things, and trying to figure out if what's on my mind makes any sense. Two possible advantages (for people) of individual ownership of patents over corporate ownership:
Contracts require consideration. If I own something and sign a contract with you that allows you exclusive control over it, then I have to be getting something in return. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that there's some restrictions on consideration that can render a contract void if it is incredibly lopsided. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that a contract exchanging an invention earning billions per year for a five figure salary and a position that can be terminated on a whim might not be a valid contract. I really don't know about that though.
The other nice thing about personal ownership of copyrights and patents is that it makes the whole retroactive copyright extension and post-mortem copyright assignment transparently illegal. If only the creator of a work gets the monopoly over its distribution, then the termination of the creator must entail the termination of the monopoly. I'm very much not a fan of eternal copyright, so that alone would make me a bit happier.
I think I've probably threadjacked this way too far, so I'll just shut up now. Maybe I'll start a blog somewhere where you can rip holes in my half-assed ideas without us bothering anybody else :)
Only extremely rarely does a billion-dollar invention arise. When an employee signs an invention-assignment agreement with his/her employer, the employer is on the hook (usually) for a known salary, benefits, etc., in exchange for which the inventor is giving up his rights in inventions of unpredictable number and -significance. That usually gives the employer the bargaining power.
It's not always that way: I once had a software-company client that paid commissions to its product architects; the architect of one of the company's flagship products ended up making a ton of money, as did its shareholders. Sadly, companies that can do this successfully are few and far between.