536
No. 22 of 2016]
Industrial Design
PART VI
DESIGNS BY EMPLOYEES
Design
created by
employee
45. (1) Subject to the other provisions this Act or a contract
of employment or service, the right to a design created by an
employee, in the performance of such employee’s contract, shall
belong to the employer or the person who commissioned the work,
as the case may be, except that, where the design acquires an
economic value much greater than the parties could reasonably
have foreseen at the time of concluding the contract, the employee
shall be entitled to an equitable remuneration to be agreed upon by
the parties or in default, to be determined by the court.
(2) Where an employee, whose employment or service contract
does not require the employee to engage in any creative activity,
creates a design using resources or means placed at the employee’s
disposal by the employer, the right to the register such design shall
belong to the employer, subject to any provision to the contrary in
the contract.
(3) A design, created by an employee without any relation to
an employment or service contract, and without the use of the
employer’s resources, shall belong to the employee.
(4) In determining equitable remuneration, as referred to in
subsection (1), the court shall, among other things, take into account
the following:
(a) the nature of the employee’s duties, the employee’s
remuneration and any other rights conferred on the
employee by contract or this Act;
(b) the effort and skill which the employee devoted to creating
the design;
(c) the effort and skill which any other person contributed to
the creating of the design; and
(d) any contribution made by the employer in creating the
design.
(5) The rights conferred on an employee, in accordance with
this Part, shall not be restricted by contract.
Design
created by
Government
employee
46. (1) The provisions of section forty-five shall, with the
necessary modifications and subject to other laws, apply to a
Government employee.
(2) In this section, “Government employee” includes a person
employed in a Government ministry, department or unit and a
statutory body or any other Government agency.