In 2009, in the United Kingdom, the House of Lords held that the contribution to the art for which a European patent is granted is the invention. If this is true, we need a robust and meaningful definition of what constitutes an invention, and an understanding of how individual subject matter...

The vast majority of inventions are devised by employees, raising the question who is entitled to patent them? Under the UK Patents Act 1977, the right to patent an invention lies primarily with its inventor(s). However, an exception exists for employee inventions to which section 39(1) applies....