Konzeptionelle Anforderungen an ein modernes Recht der Hochschulerfindungen

Intellectual property law with regard to inventions made at public universities has always been a point in controversy because there are various and divergent interests to balance: Each the inventor and the university may have competing commercial interests to exploit an invention. Ownership and exploitation options are also of uttermost importance to find private partners and investors. And the state that is financing public universities will prefer a model that enables universities to open new sources of financing and thus brings budgetary relief. Finally, the scientific community and even public research policy may have substantial interests in non-protection of scientific inventions because strict intellectual property rights can obviously hinder the scientific progress.This essay analyses the current structure, concept and the legal framework for inventions at public universities. It identifies flaws and problems in German intellectual property and administrative law with regard to research inventions. Finally, the authors consider possible solutions to the current legal problems. They try to explain that a modern law of university inventions will first have to cope with problems concerning intellectual property law. But there is also need for an integrated legal concept that balances fiscal, private and public interests with respect also to academic freedom, administrative and labour law.