Selecting an attorney for legal cases is a very important decision. Please enter your information below to receive a Free Consultation from an attorney in your area:
Patent
Law News
Joint Ownership Agreement Patents
Joint Ownership
Patents may be owned jointly by two or more persons as in the case of a patent granted to joint inventors, or in the case of the assignment of a part interest in a patent. Any joint owner of a patent, no matter how small the part interest, may make, use, offer for sale and sell and import the invention for his or her own profit provided they do not infringe another’s patent rights, without regard to the other owners, and may sell the interest or any part of it, or grant licenses to others, without regard to the other joint owner, unless the joint owners have made a contract governing their relation to each other. It is accordingly dangerous to assign a part interest without a definite agreement between the parties as to the extent of their respective rights and their obligations to each other if the above result is to be avoided.
The owner of a patent may grant licenses to others. Since the patentee has the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling or importing the invention, no one else may do any of these things without his/her permission. A patent license agreement is in essence nothing more than a promise by the licensor not to sue the licensee. No particular form of license is required; a license is a contract and may include whatever provisions the parties agree upon, including the payment of royalties, etc.
The drawing up of a license agreement (as well as assignments) is within the field of an attorney at law. Such attorney should be familiar with patent matters as well. A few States have prescribed certain formalities to be observed in connection with the sale of patent rights.
There is a time limit on patent protection.
For applications filed on or after June 8, 1995, utility and plant patents are granted for a term which begins with the date of the grant and usually ends 20 years from the date you first applied for the patent subject to the payment of appropriate maintenance fees. Design patents last 14 years from the date you are granted the patent. Note: Patents in force on June 8 and patents issued thereafter on applications filed prior to June 8, 1995 automatically have a term that is the greater of the twenty year term discussed above or seventeen years from the patent grant.
Definition:
An application for a patent to take the place of an unexpired patent that is defective in one or more particulars.
Patent Pending
Definition:
A phrase that often appears on manufactured items. It means that someone has applied for a patent on an invention that is contained in the manufactured item.
Affidavit
Definition:
A signed statement putting appropriate facts or opinions on record.
If you live in the following cities and need an patent attorney you should contact
our Patent Attorney as soon as possible:
Anchorage
Bethel
Chugiak
Eagle River
Fairbanks
Juneau
Kenai
Ketchikan
Kodiak
North Pole
Palmer
Sitka
Soldotna
Wasilla
Legal Disclaimers
All attorney listings are a paid attorney advertisement, and do not in any way constitute a referral or endorsement by an approved or authorized lawyer referral service. The information provided on Alaska Patent Lawyer.com is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys
general information related to legal issues commonly encountered. Your access
to and use of this website is subject to additional Terms
and Conditions.
Local Professional? Generate new business today
Call 866-227-9356 or contact a sales rep
Did You Know?