With the emergence of academic capitalism, the social purpose, functions and internal structure of higher education institutions have also changed. The reforms in the USA have led to the change of narrative in many European countries related to the question what kind of role should that higher education institutions play? Between the traditional functions of teaching and research, shall the higher education institutions take part in economic activities mainly through the exploitation of innovation generated within the higher education institution. The rights and obligations of the researcher in the relationship between higher education inventions have particular importance in order to ensure that they are exploited as effectively as possible. The present study aims to describe the rights and obligations of researchers in higher education institutions. After taking into account the specific situation and tasks of higher education institutions, the study will turn to the individual aspects of academic freedom and explain the specific rights and obligations of researchers in the field of patentable inventions produced in the course of their employment, which are different from the general rules. The study attempts to compare Hungarian and German law, thus, with regard to the German federal system, the study takes Berlin and Bavarian law as the reference point for the national legislation. The study draws conclusions as to how domestic law could help to motivate the researcher to transfer knowledge more efficiently, thereby increasing the intensity of results from the academic sphere.