About Inventorship

Who invented what?

As you work on your invention, you should document any contributions that came from other people.  Depending on how important these contributions were to the success of your invention, you may need to name the contributors as co-inventors on your patent application.  

In talking with colleagues and inventors, we know that inventors sometimes want to “keep it simple” and just name one person (themselves) as the inventor on the patent application.  However, improper documentation of inventorship on a patent application can lead to the patent later being invalidated.