INVENTIONS
| SWEDEN |
| UPPFINNINGAR INVENTIONS |
The general rule in Swedish labour law is that the employee's “work result” belongs to the employer. In intellectual property law, however, the basic premiss is that a person who creates something that falls under its protection acquires sole rights. In the 1949 Employee Inventions Protection Act the starting-point is the traditional approach of intellectual property law, namely, that employees have the same rights to their inventions as other inventors, but at the same time certain rights with respect to inventions by employees are granted to the employer. The Act differentiates between three types of employee inventions: those made in the course of research work for which the employee is specifically employed (forskningsuppfinningar); others made in connection with the normal course of employment (anställningsuppfinningar); and inventions by employees which fall within the employer's area of activity but have no connection with the employment relationship. The employer's rights are most extensive in the first case and least extensive in the third. A collective agreement of 1969 covering white-collar workers in manufacturing industry precluded, by and large, the application of the Act in this sector of the labour market, giving the employer somewhat more extensive rights over employee inventions. In the state sector the matter is covered by the 1989 Inventors Agreement (Uppfinnaravtalet).
Please note: the European industrial relations glossaries were compiled between 1991 and 2003 and are not updated. For current material see the European industrial relations dictionary.