Case Note: Victoria University of Technology v Wilson Ors : The Supreme Court of Victoria Tries Some Socio-legal Analysis in Reconceptualising the Role of Academics

摘要

In a recent decision Victoria University of Technology v Wilson & Ors the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, decided against two academic defendants in a case brought by their university employer over the ownership of intellectual property. The case turned on whether the academics invented the property within the scope of their employment and is interesting in the court's finding that the comparatively recent commercialisation of Australian universities had reconstructed the nature of academic work. The court held that a full professor and a senior lecturer - a middle level academic grade in Australian universities - had a fiduciary duty to account to their employer university for gains from business opportunities they learn of in the course of their employment.