Paying compensation to outstanding employee inventions: international experience and recommendations for Vietnam

The current compensation for employees who make inventions during their employment tenure is mainly based on the agreement mechanism. This mechanism, however, appears to be unfair to the employee-cum-inventors if any “employee inventions” bring significant profits to their employers. The unbalance between employees and employers in the agreement over “employee invention” has been realized by many developed countries. Many developed countries have adopted regulations that enforce more equitable mechanisms, which has led to an increase in employees' scientific creativity. This paper identifies the above-mentioned unbalance in Vietnamese intellectual property and labor laws, thereby proposing suggestions to improve regulations for ensuring employees' rights and creativity in research and development (R&D).