Russian Court Clarifies Inventor Compensation in Employment Settings

The Constitutional Court of Russia has clarified a key principle about compensation for creators who develop useful inventions within the walls of the company that employs them. The court states that an inventor retains the right to charge for the patented product of their intellectual labor, even if the employer does not adopt or deploy the invention in its business operations. This interpretation signals a careful balance between the personal rights of inventors and the commercial considerations that employers must weigh, reflecting a measured approach to intellectual property and employment law in Russia. The ruling underscores that the right to profit from one’s own invention does not vanish simply because the workplace chooses not to implement the invention in its current processes, and it reinforces the idea that inventive effort is a separate, valuable asset that deserves recognition independent of corporate usage decisions. As a result, inventors may seek fair compensation for their patented contributions while employers retain flexibility in how they apply or ignore those inventions in practice.