23/07/09
Employees awarded compensation for outstanding benefit
In a recent decision, 31 years after the relevant law was introduced, the High Court has awarded two employee inventors compensation for the outstanding benefit that their employer received from a patent for their invention.
Drs James Kelly and Kwok Wai Chu were employed by Amersham International Plc (now part of the General Electric Group as GE Healthcare) when they invented a radioactive imaging agent which was patented and eventually sold under the trade mark, “Myoview.”
In the never-before seen decision, Dr. Kelly was awarded £1 million for his part in the invention, while Dr. Chu received £0.5 million.