New Rules for German Professors

In Germany, the Inventor9s Law has, in the past, granted German university professors an exemption from the standard legal obligation, known throughout industry, of notifying the employer of an invention. The inventor-professor was at the same time the sole beneficiary of any and all financial income achieved by the commercialization of the invention. It was frequently argued that, in essence, this old legislation was denying the German universities and, thereby, the German economy an economically valuable intangible asset. Thus, legislation has very recently abolished the so-called professor9s privilege, with great financial and political consequences.