Can corporations "own" their own patents?

Yes, they can. A patent has an inventor, and an assignee. The inventor is the person who invented it. The assignee is the person/company who owns the rights to it.

There's an explanation of this at http://www.patentengineers.com/

A corporation can "own" a patent. In the US, an inventor files for patent application, and the inventor can assign his or her rights in the patent to a corporation. This is very common. If the corporation is dissolved, then the patents are distributed the same way any other property (tangible or otherwise) is distributed.

Btw, in some countries, a corporation can file for a patent on behalf of an inventor and be listed as the "applicant."

Lyantha says it all. In the case of a pregnancy, it is no longer "your" DNA, but entirely new DNA. It's only "your" DNA as long as a pregnancy DOESN'T occur. And for your premise to gel completely, the farmer would have to INTENTIONALLY "deposit" his seed in the other farmer"s field, only to turn around and sue for compensation. I look at it this way. If the guy can prove that he tried to prevent unwanted pregnancy by taking the appropriate measures (and this does NOT mean simply asking "Are you on the pill?"), and the woman sabotages this to get herself pregnant, then the man should be able to walk away. He obviously didn't want children, and he acted appropriately. But if someone leaves contraception in the hands of another, or doesn't take appropriate measures, they are acting negligently. And that goes for BOTH. Women should never leave contraception solely in the hands of the man, and vice versa. If pregnancy is undesired, take matters into your own hands.

1. absolutely....e.g. IBM, #1 in the US

2. depends upon how the corporation is dissolved....

employees who invent things while working for the corporation do not own the patents, the corporation does...many cases where employees invented things "on their own time"....corporation "owned employee, owned patent"

ofcourse