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514 PDFTitle:PATENTS ORDINANCEGazette Number:
Section:60Heading:Enforceability of contracts relating to employees' inventionsVersion Date:30/06/1997

(1) This section applies to any contract (whenever made) relating to inventions made by an employee, being a contract entered into by him-

        (a) with the employer (alone or with another); or
        (b) with some other person at the request of the employer or in pursuance of the employee's contract of employment.
(2) Any term in a contract to which this section applies which diminishes the employee's rights in inventions of any description made by him after the commencement of this section and the date of the contract, or in or under patents for those inventions or applications for such patents, shall be unenforceable against him to the extent that it diminishes his rights in an invention of that description so made, or in or under a patent for such an invention or an application for any such patent.
(3) Subsection (2) is without prejudice to any duty of confidentiality owed to his employer by an employee by virtue of any rule of law or otherwise.
(4) This section applies to any arrangement made with a public officer in the course of his duties as it applies to any contract made between an employee and an employer other than the Government.
[cf. 1977 c. 37 s. 42 U.K.]