On January 9, 2025 (Case No. 2 U 1\/24), the Higher Regional Court of D\u00fcsseldorf dismissed the appeal of a former independent contractor against a judgment of the Regional Court of D\u00fcsseldorf. The plaintiff, a mechanical engineer with many years of experience in the field of stud welding technology, demanded the transfer of several patents as well as claims for information and damages. He argued that the defendant company had filed patents based on his inventions without his consent, even though he had worked as a freelancer and therefore retained the rights to the inventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court saw it differently: despite his status as an independent contractor, there had been an implicit agreement over decades whereby the plaintiff allowed the defendant to file patents for his inventions. The plaintiff had been centrally involved in the application process, acted as the point of contact for patent attorneys for many years, and had never objected to this practice. Based on this conduct, the court concluded that there was an implied agreement to transfer the rights. Consequently, the defendant had not filed the patents unlawfully, and all asserted claims \u2013 including those for transfer of rights, co-ownership, information, and damages \u2013 were dismissed. konkludente Vereinbarung zur \u00dcbertragung der Rechte<\/strong>. Damit lag keine widerrechtliche Patentanmeldung durch die Beklagte vor, sodass s\u00e4mtliche geltend gemachten Anspr\u00fcche \u2013 einschlie\u00dflich auf \u00dcbertragung, Mitberechtigung, Auskunft und Schadenersatz \u2013 abgewiesen wurden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court did not allow a revision. The judgment underscores the relevance of implied agreements in long-standing business relationships, particularly in freelance work involving research and development activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Das Oberlandesgericht D\u00fcsseldorf hat mit Urteil vom 09.01.2025 (Az. 2 U 1\/24) die Berufung eines ehemaligen freien Mitarbeiters gegen ein Urteil des Landgerichts D\u00fcsseldorf zur\u00fcckgewiesen. Der Kl\u00e4ger, ein Maschinenbauingenieur mit langj\u00e4hriger T\u00e4tigkeit im Bereich der Bolzenschwei\u00dftechnik, verlangte die \u00dcbertragung mehrerer Patente sowie Auskunfts- und Schadensersatzanspr\u00fcche. Er argumentierte, die beklagte Firma habe ohne seine Zustimmung Patente auf seine Erfindungen angemeldet, obwohl er als freier Mitarbeiter t\u00e4tig war und daher die Rechte […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[62,61,57,60,55,59,58,56,63],"class_list":["post-3135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unkategorisiert","tag-arbeitnehmererfinderrecht","tag-arbeitnehmererfindung","tag-az-2-u-1-24","tag-erfindung","tag-freie-erfinder","tag-freier-mitarbeiter","tag-oberlandesgericht-duesseldorf","tag-uebertragung-von-erfindungsrechten","tag-widerrechtliche-patentanmeldung"],"yoast_head":"\n