Yuyao Company v. Ningbo Company and Others: Patent Ownership and Senior-Management Loyalty
The SPC IP Tribunal clarified that where a senior manager operates competing affiliate businesses during tenure and uses the company's technology, personnel, and market resources to apply for patents for himself or related parties, thereby seizing business opportunities that should belong to the company, he seriously breaches both loyalty and non-compete duties. Patent rights obtained in this way lack a lawful foundation; where the patent is highly connected to the company's business and mainly developed with company resources, it may be treated as the manager's service invention and belong to the company.
Holding
The SPC IP Tribunal clarified that where a senior manager operates competing affiliate businesses during tenure and uses the company's technology, personnel, and market resources to apply for patents for himself or related parties, thereby seizing business opportunities that should belong to the company, he seriously breaches both loyalty and non-compete duties. Patent rights obtained in this way lack a lawful foundation; where the patent is highly connected to the company's business and mainly developed with company resources, it may be treated as the manager's service invention and belong to the company.