Patent

The words “the employer” in s 41(2) of the Patents Act 1977 went back to the words “an employer” in the opening words of that section. In the opening words, it meant the actual employer—the legal entity which was the real assignor. The statute required consideration of the actual assignment from the actual employer to the actual connected person.

The words “benefit derived or expected to be derived” in s 41(2) was deemed to be the amount the employer could reasonably be expected to have derived if the assignee had not been connected, knowing what benefit had in fact been obtained by the assignee. On the true construction of s 41(2), the words “that person” meant the actual assignee with its actual attributes.