<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="4">My view is that you should not name yourself inventor without a Really Good Reason. <span>Here are the reasons
that you should not name yourself as inventor:<span></span></span></font>
<p class="gmail-Listoutdent1typedletter-number" style="margin:2pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in"><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="4">\u25cf<span> </span>If
you are merely the attorney, not the inventor, you are unlikely to be called
for deposition\u2014attorneys generally don\u2019t get deposed unless there\u2019s some smell
of inequitable conduct in the air first.<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span>[1]</span></span></span></span></a><span> </span>However, if you are a named inventor, you <i>will</i> be deposed.<span> </span>And once you\u2019re in the hot seat in your role
as inventor, the scope of questions that you can be asked has little bound,
including \u201cfishing expedition\u201d questions for inequitable conduct that couldn\u2019t
be asked if you weren\u2019t already there.<a href="#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span>[2]</span></span></span></span></a></font></p>
<p class="gmail-Listoutdent1typedletter-number" style="margin:2pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in"><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="4">\u25cf<span> </span>When
a statement of fact made solely as <i>attorney
argument</i> is erroneous without intent, it\u2019s not inequitable conduct.<a href="#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span>[3]</span></span></span></span></a><span> </span>However, if you are the inventor, the same
argument could be an <i>inventor\u2019s statement</i>,
and that statement might be evaluated for inequitable conduct on a far
different standard.</font></p>
<p class="gmail-Listoutdent1typedletter-number" style="margin:2pt 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in"><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="4">\u25cf<span> </span>As
a person that is likely to become a witness, you are <span>disqualified from representing the client in any litigation.<span> </span>The disqualification may extend to your firm.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:12pt 0in 0.0001pt">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">While the Federal
Circuit has not explicitly blessed the practice, it has at least told district
courts not to invalidate such patents under old § 102(f) (\u201cA person shall be
entitled to a patent unless \u2026 he did not himself invent the subject matter
sought to be patented.\u201d), nor to correct inventorship under § 256:<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span>[4]</span></span></span></span></a><span></span></span></font></p>
<p class="gmail-MsoBlockText" style="margin:3pt 0.5in 0.0001pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"><font size="4"><span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">\u2026 An
attorney\u2019s professional responsibility is to assist his or her client in
defining her invention to obtain, if possible, a valid patent with maximum
coverage.<span> </span>An attorney performing that
role should not be a competitor of the client, asserting his inventorship as a
result of representing his client.<span> </span>Thus,
to assert that proper performance of the attorney\u2019s role is a ground for
invalidating the patent constitutes a failure to understand the proper role of
the patent attorney.</span><span></span></span></font></p>
<div><br clear="all"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%">
<div id="gmail-ftn1">
<p class="gmail-MsoFootnoteText" style="margin:2pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""></a><span> </span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">[1]</span></span></span></span>
<i>Ring Plus Inc v Cingular Wireless Corp.</i>,
614 F.3d 1354, ___, 6 USPQ2d 1022, ___ (Fed. Cir. 2010) (material misstatement
in Background was material to inequitable conduct, but did not establish intent
to deceive); Taltech Ltd v Esquel Ents Ltd., 604 F3d 1324, ___, 95 USPQ2d 1257,
___ (Fed. Cir. 2010) (inequitable conduct & atty fees in undisclosed prior
art, atty misstatement; intent inferred from circumstance & lack evidence
of good faith).</p>
</div>
<div id="gmail-ftn2">
<p class="gmail-MsoFootnoteText" style="margin:2pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""></a><span> </span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">[2]</span></span></span></span>
Exergen Corp v Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 575 F3d 1312, ___, 91 USPQ2d 1656, ___
(Fed. Cir. 2009) (FRCP 9(b) pleading of inequitable conduct reqs specific who,
what, when, where and how, including facts implying intent).</p>
</div>
<div id="gmail-ftn3">
<p class="gmail-MsoFootnoteText" style="margin:2pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""></a><span> </span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">[3]</span></span></span></span>
<i>Intirtool Ltd v Texar Corp.</i>, 369 F3d
1289, ___, 70 USPQ2d 1780, ___ (Fed. Cir. 2004) (inequitable conduct of faulty
prosecution arguments); <i>Norian Corp v
Stryker Corp.</i>, 363 F3d 1321, 70 USPQ2d 1508 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (inequitable
conduct of faulty prosecution arguments); <i>CFMT Inc v Yieldup Int\u2019l Corp.</i>, 349
F3d 1333, ___, 68 USPQ2d 1940, ___ (Fed. Cir. 2003) (inequitable conduct of
faulty prosecution arguments); <i>Transonic Systems Inc v Non-Invasive Medical
Technologies Corp.</i>, 75 Fed.Appx. 765 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (unpublished) (inequitable
conduct of faulty prosecution arguments); <i>Gambro Lundia AB v Baxter Healthcare
Corp</i>, 110 F3d 1573, ___, 42 USPQ2d 1378, ___ (Fed. Cir. 1997).</p>
</div>
</div>
</div><div>
<div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%">
<div id="gmail-ftn1">
<p class="gmail-MsoFootnoteText" style="margin:2pt 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman""><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""></a><span> </span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span><span class="gmail-MsoFootnoteReference" style="vertical-align:super"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">[4]</span></span></span></span>
<i>Solomon v. Kimberly-Clark Corp.</i>, 216 F.3d 1372, 1382, 55 USPQ2d 1279,
1285 (Fed. Cir. 2000).</p>
</div>
</div>
<div><br clear="all"></div>
</div><div><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Dec 9, 2024 at 1:40\u202fPM Carl Oppedahl via Patentpractice <<a href="mailto:patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com">patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div>
<p>I have had this happen half a dozen times over the years. I send
the standard email "here are the claims, please look at them and
tell me if we have named all of the inventors" and next thing you
know, I am told I am a co-inventor.</p>
<p>When this happens, I simply sign a declaration and asssignment,
record the assignment, and give it no further thought.</p>
<p>Yes I suppose one could concoct situations where (for example) a
malfeasant patent attorney could intentionally slip a "not" into
the assignment, or could intentionally do something or another
during prosecution that would somehow favor the attorney. To the
extent that one decides that such risks would need to be somehow
addressed, yes one cannot imagine any approach other than
transferring everything about the case (including the assignment
task) to separate counsel.</p>
<p>One imagines the client would get stuck paying lots of money to
new counsel for them to spend the time needed gain familiarity
with the file.</p>
<p>I guess I have sort of assumed that if I can be trusted not to
screw over the client in the handling of the file in general
(before I was identified as a co-inventor), I ought to be able to
be trusted not to screw over the client in the remaining tasks.
But you raise valid questions that I have never thought about.<br>
</p>
<div>On 12/9/2024 1:03 PM, Patent Lawyer via
Patentpractice wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal">What issues / concerns are there with a
patent attorney being named an inventor on their client's
patent application?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Assume that the attorney will assign all
rights in the invention to the client/applicant, should the
attorney advise them to have someone else handle the
assignment? <br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Are there privilege issues? (In a
communication with the client, who are you? Attorney or
co-inventor?)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Does the patent attorney have to advise the
PTO? Is there a conflict of any sort?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
</blockquote>
</div>
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