Can I split patent ownership with my cofounder in the following cases:
- A patent owned by me
- A new patent to be applied
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Sign up to join this communityCan I split patent ownership with my cofounder in the following cases:
Yes.
35 USC § 261 provides:
... patents shall have the attributes of personal property. ... Applications for patent, patents, or any interest therein, shall be assignable in law by an instrument in writing.
Thus patents and patent applications can be owned, bought and sold essentially like any other kind of personal property, and so ownership can be split any way you want. The only real catch is that ownership should be recorded at the USPTO (which isn't necessary for other kinds of personal property).
Yes it's done all the time. E.g., Fred W. McLafferty, and Michael A. Baldwin, Us Patent #3997298, "Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry system and method" Assigned to (Cornell Research Foundation, Inc., USA). 1976
Fred W. McLafferty, Robert H. Hertel, and Robert D. Villwock, De Patent #2521344, "Mass spectrometer system for rapid, automatic, specific identification and quantitative determination of compounds" Assigned to (Universal Monitor Corp., USA). 1976