Category: Ownership

U.S. Patent Law Changes for Corporate Entities

Effective September 16, 2012 under the AIA, the following important changes take effect for corporate entities applying for patent protection:

  1. Allowed to be “Patent Applicant”.  Corporate entities can now file patent applications in their own name instead of the name of the inventors as previously required.  Basically, any corporate entity that can show a proprietary interest in the patent rights will be able to apply for patent protection as the “patent applicant”.
  2. Must be Filed by Registered Patent Attorney.  Included within the new changes are requirements that corporate entities cannot file patent applications pro se(including provisional patent applications) and now must file patent applications via a U.S. Registered Patent Attorney. 

A good discussion regarding the new rule changes is located at Patenty-O.

Federal Circuit Case: Assignment Agreement Did Not Explicity Assign Continuation-In-Part Application

The Federal Circuit has ruled that a patent assignment was ambiguous because it was not clear whether children patent applications from the original parent application were to be included in the assignment.  The Federal Circuit remanded the case for the trial court to resolve the ambiguity issue in the patent assignment agreement.  Euclid Chemical Co. v. Vector Corrosion Technologies, Inc. 2008-1170