Patent filed under boss name

Question

I had made 2 inventions and has done all paper works (write ups and drawings) required to file a patent. The patent was to be filed in my boss name as first author (though hes not the inventor) and me as 2nd author. The required application forms with signatures of us were given to the patent lawyer for filing.

But after few months, I realize the patent has been filed in my boss name and my name had been omitted out. The lawyer and my boss claims, it might have happened as a mistake to omit my name and they refuse to add my inventorship claiming additional charges.

In this kind of situation what can I do? Where can I prove my inventorship?

Answer 1

This answer assumes you are talking about a filing with the USPTO. Unlike authorship, inventorship is controlled by law. Writing it up and making drawing might make you an author but, alone, does not make one an inventor. Being the boss does not make one an inventor. Making a conceptual contribution to something in a claim is what makes one an inventor. All true inventors must be listed and no one else.

Including the name of someone who made no conceptual contribution is completely improper as is leaving off the name of someone who did make a conceptual contribution. The patent attorney knows this. The only way his/her actions are legal and ethical would be if the boss believably claims to be the sole conceptual contributor of what ended up being claimed and the attorney does not think you are technically an inventor but doesn't want to get in an argument with you about it.

Up until 2011, changing inventorship usually required a statement that the error was "not with deceptive intent". That no longer is the case. Fixing inventorship can be done with a simple form and transmittal letter with no USPTO fees due.