Q: How can this patent be valid, my father is listed as inventor, he died in 2015 patent was filed 2018. Is patent invalid?
My father Ian Ripley was the inventor and the origin of the technology used in this patent. He died in 2015 yet he is listed as the inventor in this patent which was filed in 2018, how is this so given the fact my father was not alive at time of filing? We have had issues with other patents this company has filed and objected to one of their patents 3 years ago, a case which we won given we have decades of prior art proving their claims are 1; not novel and 2; were based on our intellectual property and products we sold on the open market for years prior to their application for patent. I would like to know if what they have done is wrong and if we can challenge this latest patent? Thanks
A:
I am sorry that your father is no longer with you.
With respect to filing a patent, if the rights to the invention were passed on to a third party, then those rights can be used to file a patent even after an inventor's death. There are processes for handling this.
You can look for registered assignments regarding the rights to the patent that is of concern to you at https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html#/patent/search. You can do this a number of ways including using the patent number or your father's name as assignor.
When you drill down, you should be able to see the actual document that purports to convey the rights from your father.
You may want to consult a patent attorney and possibly an attorney with relevant knowledge of contract or employment law if your father was employed by the people that filed this patent application.
I hope that this helps.
Kevin E Flynn
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