Incentivising the Generation of IP Protectable Materials in the Workplace

Abstract

Employed creators and/or inventors are key contributors to the generation of intellectual property (IP) protectable material in innovations commercialized by organizations that employ them. Rights in the IP for works generated under hire more often are assigned to the organizations which enjoy economic benefits from commercial exploitation of the IP’s. That creates a lacuna with regards the incentive effect of the IP system to individual contributors in the generation of IP in the course of employment. The study explores how organizations in the Fintech sector in Zimbabwe are incentivizing the generation by employees of IP protectable material and how that fits in within discourse on the framework of the IP system. Thus, as a primary objective the study investigated if there are companies in the Fintech sector in Zimbabwe that are giving incentives to their employees for generation of IP work. It also evaluated if there is increased generation of IP material in companies that give incentives as compared to those that do not. The study further examines which incentives are given and whether the types of incentives have an impact on the generation of IP protectable material. It then endeavored to suggest strategies for the generation of IP protectable materials from lessons learnt from the case of Fintech companies in Zimbabwe. Anchored on some mix of economic and labor theories which place premium on the incentive function of IP as well as the critical theory that interrogates other disciplines which account for motivation and human behavior, the study explores the debate in literature on the interplay between extrinsic and intrinsic factors to motivation of employees. The research being empirical in nature it adopts a combined quantitative and qualitative approach. Primary data was collected through questionnaires administered to a target population selected by random sampling. Findings confirmed the proposition that people respond to incentives and hence it is important to pay the proverbial piper, albeit that on a more philosophical level the participates evinced that they are driven as well to create/invent by other more intrinsic factors beyond just their felt need for extrinsic incentivizes. Nevertheless, a key conclusion to the study is that it is necessary to incentivize the generation of IP material by employees through financial rewards, mixed with other non-monetary forms of incentives for good effect. It also notes an interplay between extrinsic and intrinsic motivators in incentivizing the generation of IP material and goods.