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The USPTO has recently issued a patent for which I am an inventor.

However, the patent has been issued to my ex-employer who is the applicant (since the patent has been assigned to them by me right at the time of filing , nearly 4 years ago).

As an inventor, is there a provision of getting a plaque issued to me, recognising my contribution?

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I don't believe the USPTO issues plaques. At least they've never sent me one. However, there are several companies who do sell them. They are very efficient. Sometimes the way I've found out a patent has issued is from a the company trying to sell me a plaque.

I was lucky in that my employer bought plaques for the inventors. Another option is to simply print out the first page of the patent and frame that.

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  • Thanks Eric, my old employer and I are not in touch these days. Furthermore, I am not sure if their policy can justify the expense of providing a plaque to a former employee, when there is no tangible benefit to the company. Regarding the private companies that provide plaque, how do they verify the authenticity, i.e. how do they validate that the one who places the online order is indeed the employer, and secondly, such a patent actually has been issued by the USPTO (i.e. it's a real one). So far, the online forms look alarmingly simple with no identity validation mechanisms. Anyone can claim
    – Dr Krishnakumar Gopalakrishnan
    May 1, 2017 at 9:19
  • @Krishna The plaques have no legal standing. Anyone can buy one. They aren't going to add a non-inventor's name so what is the point of someone else buying one?
    – Eric S ♦
    May 1, 2017 at 12:05
  • @Krishna Just to make clear, the plaque shows a facsimile of part of the patent's first page and sometimes first figure. They get that from the USPTO. they know who the inventors are. They don't care who the purchaser is.
    – Eric S ♦
    May 1, 2017 at 12:09

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