Research on the Obligated Entities for Service Invention Compensation Payment

职务发明奖励和报酬是发明人完成职务发明创造而享有的法定权利，在职务发明奖酬纠纷中，支付义务主体的确定更是首要解决的问题。文章首先对《专利法》第15条中“被授予专利权的单位”从立法目的、历史解释、体系解释等角度进行含义解读，提出“被授予专利权的单位”指向“发明人所在单位”。而后对于普遍存在的“协同创新”及“关联交易”下，“发明人所在单位”与“被授予专利权的单位”不一致时应当如何认定义务主体开展讨论，以保障发明人奖酬权利。通过联系具体案例分析，认为在“协同创新”情形下，应引导协同创新单位就跨单位的职务发明奖励报酬作出约定，要求单位转让成果权属时应当保留收益权；在“关联交易”情形下，应认定企业集团与相关成员公司为职务发明奖励和报酬的共同义务主体，承担连带责任。Service invention rewards and remuneration are statutory rights entitled to inventors for completing service-related inventions. In disputes over such compensation, determining the obligated entities for payment is the primary issue to resolve. This article first interprets the term “the unit granted the patent right” under Article 15 of the Patent Law from perspectives of legislative intent, historical interpretation, and systematic interpretation, proposing that “the unit granted the patent right” refers to “the inventor’s employing unit.” It then discusses how to identify the obligated entities when inconsistencies arise between “the inventor’s employing unit” and “the unit granted the patent right” in common scenarios such as “collaborative innovation” and “related-party transactions,” aiming to safeguard inventors’ rights to rewards and remuneration. Through case analysis, the study argues that: (1) In collaborative innovation contexts, collaborator entities should be guided to establish agreements on cross-institutional service invention rewards and remuneration, requiring rights-transferring entities to retain benefit-sharing rights; (2) In related-party transaction scenarios, enterprise groups and their affiliated member companies should be recognized as jointly obligated entities for service invention rewards and remuneration, bearing joint and several liabilities.