Q: How are provisional patent filings managed after a corporation is dissolved ?
Consider that a provisional application for patent was submitted to the USPTO and the corporation that submitted the provisional has since been dissolved. Further consider that an employee assigned over any patent rights prior to dissolution. How is the provisional application managed thereafter and who owns the resulting patent and obligations? The corporation can no longer pay for or prosecute the patent, nor pay for issue and maintenance fees after the patent issues. Neither can the corporation defend the patent in a court of law should that later occur.
A:
The provisional patent application should belong to the company. The provisional patent application is part of the property to distribute much like the corporation's chairs and subscriptions. Provisional patent applications expire after a year. They are not published. In effect, they just go away. How the provisional patent application is managed is not critical. You may need to work out with the inventor who will own the underlying technology if it will still be used.
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