Who owns what?
Inven2’s mandate is to commercialise the inventions of the staff at the University of Oslo and the health trusts under the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority.
It is the employer who owns the inventions of his employees. Inven2’s responsibility is to evaluate the commercial potential of the inventions that are reported as DOFIs. DOFI stands for ‘Disclosure of Invention’. It is an international term for inventions based on research. Employees are obliged to submit a DOFI if their work results are patentable or interesting for commercial purposes.
If Inven2 finds the invention to be unfit for commercialisation, the inventor will be offered to take over the commercialisation rights to the invention. You will then be free to further develop and commercialise on your own initiative. If you further develop the invention using the employer’s resources, it will normally mean that the commercial rights to the idea remain with the employer. Further-developed inventions must be submitted to Inven2 for a new evaluation.
If Inven2 chooses to continue with the DOFI, you will enter into an innovation process with Inven2. Read more about what happens in the boxes on this page, and feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions.
Why does it work this way?
According to Norwegian law, inventions made in connection with an employment relationship are owned by the employer. This is regulated by the Act respecting the Right to Employees’ Inventions. If the employer does not want to further develop the inventions, the employees must be given a written notice of this within four months of the DOFI being received.
