Abstract
The current legal system on intellectual properties provides different definitions of the relationship of the creator of intellectual properties with the organization he/she belongs to for different categories. However, the formal classification of intellectual properties, on which the system is based, does not actually reflect their essential features in relation to the innovation they bring about. This is why the personal reward to the author is often unrealistic. The paper discusses, apart from the current legal framework, the proper way of rewarding engineers as innovators which takes into account the process how a technology results in an innovation, as well as the position of the engineer in question in his/her organization. The management of engineers involved in an innovative process involves three steps: promoting creation of new knowledge, transferring the knowledge to the organization, and making the organization employ the knowledge. These steps are, however, practically common to patents, trade secrets and copyrights, and do not differentiate the reward to the authors. Important determinants of the reward include: uncertainty in commercialization of the technology in question, and mobility of engineers in the organization. Appropriate systems of intellectual properties management, including monetary and non-monetary reward and contracts with retirees, were studied for four cases based on different combinations of those factors.
