GDPR / Data Privacy of inventors / Filings
Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:19 am
Due to the GDPR (General Data Privacy Regulation) European regulation, companies have to put in place heavy processes in to comply with the requirements in case they keep private inventor data in their systems.
Usually it was required that for patent filings the personal / private address of an inventor to be provided. It seems however that if the inventor is an employee of a company and is submitting the invention through the employer, then the professionnal address of the inventor can be provided.
I would like to have the official documents where this is clearly stated for all relevant procedures. I found one (in French) when the EPO is the receiving office for the EPO procedure : https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal- ... 13_fr.html.
At the end of the document it says: "13. Il est donc conseillé de fournir ces informations dans le formulaire de requête PCT dès le dépôt de la demande internationale. Si l'inventeur ne souhaite pas indiquer son adresse personnelle, l'OEB acceptera généralement l'adresse de son employeur, le cas échéant."
Usually it was required that for patent filings the personal / private address of an inventor to be provided. It seems however that if the inventor is an employee of a company and is submitting the invention through the employer, then the professionnal address of the inventor can be provided.
I would like to have the official documents where this is clearly stated for all relevant procedures. I found one (in French) when the EPO is the receiving office for the EPO procedure : https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal- ... 13_fr.html.
At the end of the document it says: "13. Il est donc conseillé de fournir ces informations dans le formulaire de requête PCT dès le dépôt de la demande internationale. Si l'inventeur ne souhaite pas indiquer son adresse personnelle, l'OEB acceptera généralement l'adresse de son employeur, le cas échéant."