The German Patent Modernization Act comes into force on October 1, 2009

The Patent Modernization Act has been published in the Federal Gazette on August 4, 2009 and will come into force on October 1, 2009. An amendment which is relevant in practice is that employees’ inventions which are announced to the employer after September 30, 2009 are automatically transferred to the employer. This, however, is not applicable if the employer waives his/her claim to the invention within a period of four months. The period starts with the announcement of the invention by the employee.