Industry/Software/Start-up
Patent Filing Bonus for Researchers and Engineers

Profit sharing for agents based on income earned by INRIA from developing their research and inventions has existed since 1996. Bonuses for filing patents, which offer the benefit of being paid out soon after the patent is filed, have now been added to this incentive.

Interview with Luc Grateau, head of the department of intellectual property and development

© Denis Pessin

: What is a patent filing bonus?

Luc Grateau:The patent filing bonus was instituted by decree at the end of 2005. It is part of a set of incentives for innovation included by Nicole Fontaine, Minister for Industry, and Claudie Haigneré, Minister for Research and New Technologies, in their Plan for Research and Innovation presented in 2002. The bonus has only just begun to be awarded, because we did not receive the framework document for implementing the decree, which specifies technical details and eliminates ambiguities in interpretation, until March 2008.

This bonus is paid to INRIA agents who are the designated inventors on a patent application, and is in addition to any payments due to researchers as profit sharing when the patents are used. It takes the form of a €3,000 lump-sum payment paid in two phases: 20% one year after the initial patent is filed and the remaining 80% when an operating agreement is signed. When multiple inventors are involved, the sum is divided among them on a pro-rated basis according to their inventive contribution.

Contact:

Luc Grateau
Department of intellectual property and development, Department of Technology Transfer and Innovation
Tel.: + 33 1 39 63 54 59