Q: If I performed majority of the work for a patent, but my name is excluded in the list of inventors. What can I do?
A:
First, the concept of being an inventor is not directly related to the percentage of work by the various members on the team. I have filed patents where team members that did much of the modeling, documentation, testing, and even optimizing of a design did not get named as a co-inventor as they did not contribute a specific idea that was captured in one of the claims in the claim set we filed.
Second, the concept of being an inventor when properly understood is dynamic. So a person who is not a co-inventor of a specific set of claims may become an inventor if the claims are amended or a continuation case is filed and those claims include some idea traced back to this person.
Finally, there is a process for the assignee of the patent to correct inventorship. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/37/1.48 One can also file suit to correct inventorship of an issued patent. I hope that you can work this out with the owner of the patent so that you are added as an inventor if that is the right thing to do.
I hope this helps.
Kevin E Flynn
1 user found this answer helpful
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