직무발명보상금과 종업원의 공헌도와의 관계 - 최근 하급심판결을 중심으로 -

Proper and fair compensation is significant as it provides a strong incentive for employees to create inventions. The recent court’s decision on the issue of degree of employee’s contribution to an invention has expanded the scope of proper compensation for employee’s invention. This decision seems to suggest a welcome trend towards recognizing the greater level of employee’s contribution. Some of the important factors in assessing the employee’s contribution are as follows : who initiated and organized the research project for the particular invention, the amount of money invested, the nature of employee’s task, how the technology and facilities provided by the employer have been utilized, the process of completion of the invention as well as the value and outcomes of inventions. While assessing the proper amount of the outcomes of the invention is an inevitable factor to examine the contribution of the employees, it does not seem to be an advisable solution, in particular, to mathematically calculate the employee’s contribution. According to Article 13, Paragraph 2 of the Invention Promotion Act, the amount of remuneration is computed by multiplying two variables, one of which is employee’s contribution and the other is amount of the outcome of the invention. Therefore, the amount of the outcome of the invention should, in fact,not alone considered as a factor to be calculated for the employee’s contribution. As the court continuously renders decisions on employee's contribution and relevant evaluation factors, the more reasonable and objective standard to assess a fair compensation would be available.