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Legal Incentives to Promote Innovation at Work: A Critical Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Chris Dent ,
Colin Fenwick  and
Kirsten Newitt
Chris Dent
Affiliation:
Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, Melbourne Law School
Colin Fenwick
Affiliation:
Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, Melbourne Law School
Kirsten Newitt
Affiliation:
Ergon Associates, UK
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Abstract

The allocation of any benefit that arises from worker-generated innovation is complicated by the importance of three separate areas of law — employment law, intellectual property law and equity — and the distinction between those types of innovation that attract intellectual property rights and those types that do not (the latter being a category that is often referred to as ‘know-how’). The purpose of this article is to engage with the legal scholarship on the principles that are relevant to innovation. To date, the discussion has focused on two distinct approaches — what may be termed the economic and the fairness perspectives. The former may be seen as a justification for the current regime, while the latter has focused on the perceived needs of workers (in large part in opposition to the employers). Our argument is that these two approaches are both incomplete. In an attempt to get closer to a workable framework for the effective allocation of benefits, we offer a third approach; one that is based on the practices that are central to the employer-worker relationship.

Keywords

Employment lawnintellectual propertyinnovationknow-howallocation of benefits
Type
Symposium: Innovation, Skills and Training
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , December 2010 , pp. 27 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2010

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