Winter Springs, FL asked in Patents (Intellectual Property) for Maryland

Q: William Holub, inventor of patent # 5681475, passed away 10 years ago. Can his widow receive compensation.

1 Lawyer Answer
Kevin E. Flynn
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Kevin E. Flynn
Answered
  • Patents Lawyer
  • Pittsboro, NC

A: There is not a process for the United States Patent Office to provide compensation to widows of patent inventors.

Patent US5681475 was filed back in 1995 and is listed as expired. So unless there was an agreement with an assignee of the patent to share money with the inventors that has not been fulfilled, I do not see a way of obtaining compensation.

Once can obtain the assignment document at https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html#/patent/search but it is possible that any agreement to provide compensation was set forth in a company policy and not recited in the assignment document. Presumably the payments or a dispute should have started during the lifetime of the inventor.

I am sorry that the inventor died long before his spouse and am sorry that I do not have any good suggestions for compensation.

I hope the information I did provide is helpful in some small way.

Kevin E Flynn

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