<div dir="ltr"><div>That zeros in on my question. I filed the provisional with the client company as "applicant." I have assignments from four of the five inventors.</div><div><br></div><div>The case law in section VI.D is pre-AIA, when "applicant" was the individual inventors. So I think I've solved that problem (or rather, I'm not creating any new problems by waiting until I file the nonprovisional). (Except the problems Carl mentions in his comment "every single time that I have
ever played this game (relying on a signature for the
non-provisional as the excuse for ducking the pursuit of the
signature for the provisional), I have gotten burned. Every
single time!")</div><div><br></div><div>Carl's comment is the encouragement I need to flog this horse once again. I will take a variant on Jamie's approach, I think. Shame can be a motivator.<br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 20, 2024 at 12:53\u202fAM Rick Neifeld 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"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">"put off the fight to get the fifth until it's a nonprovisional and/or PCT." Good luck proving the corporate applicant on the PCT is entitled the Paris priority date, lacking an assignment executed BEFORE the PCT filing date. Strongly suggest you read <strong style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:11px"><a href="https://www.neifeld.com/pubs/Avoiding%20Failed%20Patent%20Application%20Filings,%202023%20Paper.pdf" style="color:rgb(102,0,0);text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank">Avoiding Failed Patent Application Filings, 2023 Paper, Submitted for the NAPP annual meeting July 19, 2023</a>" Rick Neifeld, July 19, 2023., section </strong>VI.D. The All Applicants Rule. </div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div>Rick</div><div><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Thu, Dec 19, 2024 at 2:21\u202fPM Carl Oppedahl via Patentpractice <<a href="mailto:patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com" target="_blank">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>Keep in mind you need to record within three months. See
<a href="https://blog.oppedahl.com/best-practice-recording-us-patent-assignments/" target="_blank">https://blog.oppedahl.com/best-practice-recording-us-patent-assignments/</a>
. So I would not foot-drag the recordation, especially given
that you don't have to pay any government fee to accomplish the
recordation. <br>
</p>
<p>In the old days when we had to pay a government fee to record
patent assignments, I know that many of us would play a game of
chicken, aging the first four assignments, hoping against all hope
that the fifth inventor would cough up a signature within three
months of the earliest execution by the four earlier signers. All
to scrimp and save to avoid paying an extra $25. But that fee is
gone so that eliminates any good reason to foot-drag the
recordations.</p>
<p>I figure the longer one waits to extract a signature from an
inventor, the greater the period of exposure to problems like the
inventor getting run over by a truck or worse.</p>
<p>Sometimes I have run into situations where the non-provisional is
admittedly non-identical to the provisional, and I realize that to
cover the situation fully I would need two assignments -- one for
the provisional and a second for the non-provisional. And yes you
might say "assume for sake of discussion that I do manage to
extract a signature from the inventor for the non-provisional,
then surely that means I can forgive myself for having failed to
get that inventor to sign the earlier assignment for the
provisional."</p>
<p>Except at least in my own practice, every single time that I have
ever played this game (relying on a signature for the
non-provisional as the excuse for ducking the pursuit of the
signature for the provisional), I have gotten burned. Every
single time! The ways that I have gotten burned when I play this
game have fallen into several categories:</p>
<ul>
<li>I run afoul of Article 4 of Paris, risking a failure to comply
with SAOSIT.</li>
<li>The inventor starts smelling blood in the water, because maybe
the invention must be really valuable given the second patent
filing, and so the inventor starts holding the signature ransom.</li>
<li>The inventor gets run over by a truck.</li>
<li>The inventor has a last day of work and is less cooperative
than before.</li>
</ul>
<p><br>
</p>
<div>On 12/19/2024 12:04 PM, David Boundy
via Patentpractice wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>I am nine months into my provisional year. I have
assignment from four of five inventors. The fifth? Not
hostile, but he's just a contractor, no real loyalty to the
client. Ignores emails requesting signature.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>If I just record the assignment of four inventors, and put
off the fight to get the fifth until it's a nonprovisional
and/or PCT, I guess I'm running a risk that he won't sign that
either. But is there any greater consequence to lacking the
signature if I wait? I am just out of vinegar to fight with
this guy, and I want to wait to have the fight until its a
nonprovisional.<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
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