Definition of Patent Inventor
Let's say you have drafted a new idea that you believe can add value to society. Some of your colleagues have joined you, and you think that all involved should be named inventors on the patent. However, patent law may contradict you. In the United States, a patent inventor is defined as the person who has devised the inventive part of the idea. The European patent law integrates greater flexibility in its definition of the inventor and in its management of inventorship.
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Definition
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The U.S. definition of an inventor is tighter than in other countries. In the United States, the patent law honors only you as the inventor and ignores contributors who helped reduce the concept to practice, unless they added novelty to the idea. This dimension often surprises development teams because the effort of demonstrating that the idea works frequently exceeds the energy that it took to come out with the idea. However, the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) says that reduction to practice is "irrelevant" to the definition of inventorship.
Accuracy
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Great care in listing the inventors' names strengthens the patent. Patent litigations arise at times from inaccurate listing of inventors' names. Adding a name to the inventor list of a person who didn't devise a genuine idea in the claims of the patent provides grounds for someone else to contest the patent and submit a request to the court to invalidate the patent. Hence, accuracy in the names of the inventors protects the invention from competitive court litigations.
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First on the List
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All names on the patent have equal rights. In the situation of multiple inventors, the first name to be listed tends to be the person who dominantly contributed to the core idea. Adjunct novel ideas belong to co-inventors whose names are featured subsequently in the inventor lists. The USPTO says that the order has no legal meaning in terms of share of intellectual property rights, and all inventors are granted equal rights. The USPTO aligns the names in the order they appear in the oath of declaration, a legal document that identifies the inventors.
Accountability
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The inventor is accountable for filing the patent application. U.S. patent law requires the inventors to be the only party that can apply for a patent, according to David V. Radack, a partner in the law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott. This contrasts with Europe, which welcomes an application from others who may have received rights to the idea before the patent filing. Furthermore, a European inventor may waive his rights of being mentioned on the patent.
Ownership
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Ownership of patent rights are contractually defined between the employer and the inventor. Inventorship and ownership of patents differ from a legal perspective, as explained by Howard M. Eisenberg, a biotechnology and life sciences patent attorney. Employment contracts define the owner of patent rights. An independent inventor, in business for himself, wears both the inventor and owner hats. Someone working for a company or a university typically doesn't own rights to the patent. The rights are assigned to the employer. The employment contract may stipulate how the inventor will be compensated for the assignment of the invention rights to the employer.
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References
- JOM; "Getting Inventorship Right the First Time"; David V. Radack; 1994
- USPTO: 2137.01 Inventorship [R-3] - 2100 Patentability
- University of Louisiana, Lafayette; " Inventorship vs. Ownership of a Patent"(.pdf); Howard Eisenberg; 2000
- USPTO: 605.04(f) Signature on Joint Applications - Order of Names [R-7]
Resources
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