Intellectual Property Rights in Collaborative Research
You ma y have observed in newspapers and court proceedings that disputes related to intel lectu al property rights are increasing at an alarming rate. The status quo is not shocking for the obvious reason; Intellectual Property (IP) has become a tradable commodity and made up 70 percent of total assets on Statement of Finan cial Position (SFP) of big enterprises. Certainly, such disputes are propelled by rights and benefits issues. With a general acceptance that modern invention is performed by inventors in their garages, few would differ with me that today most patentable inventive activities occur in corporate organization, and university settings, however most individuals who would be labeled inventors are employees of these institutions. With IP gaining momentum and best practices coming to light following the promulgation of IP laws, tug of war within the IP arena both in Namibia and around the world are probable. In this article, I will discourse the issue of c...