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by Xylakant 4922 days ago
I'm not so sure that it's ridiculously outdated. Sure, it could use a brush-up but it acknowledges the basic fact that your employer often spends time educating you and allows access to ressources in your line of work that form the basis of your inventions - hence the requirement that the invention be related to your work. Fact is that inventions are rarely a stroke of genius that happens instantly in vacuum. They're often refinements and improvements of readily known things. Quite often they're obvious and simple in hindsight. It's a hard balance to strike, but just giving the option of moving all "inventions" to after-hours so that the employee gets all benefits won't cut it either, especially with modern work-time models such as flex-time or home office. I don't have a perfect solution, but giving the employer first-buy rights seems like a reasonable starting point for a compromise. The law stipulates a reasonable and fair compensation for the work provided.