I would like to share with you students’ proposal for amendment with regards to the Patent Law of Ghana, Section 4(2).
According to Section 4(2) of the Ghanaian Patent Act, 2003 (Act 657), “Where two or more persons have jointly made an invention, the right to the patent belongs to them jointly”.
Students propose that where two or more persons have jointly made an invention, the right to the patent should belong to them jointly subject to the existence of a contractual agreement with provisions to determine the percentage share of returns for each inventor.
This proposal, they have justified to be appropriate, as the two or more persons involved should be allowed to agree on who gets what share of ownership and returns of invention.
With this, each member of the group is likely to get his/her percentage share of ownership and returns due him/her as agreed and documented by all members of the group.
Before we proceed, kindly share your take on the amendment proposal made by MIP students. Do you think the right to patent an invention should belong to the group jointly subject to the existence of a contractual agreement provided to define the percentage stake of ownership and proceeds for each inventor? Or better still, do you think the right to patent should belong to inventors jointly without defining percentage ownership of individuals involved?