Can a business own a patent [Beginner's Guide]

Last updated : Sept 9, 2022

Can a patent be owned by a company?

A named patent applicant is the legal owner of a patent application or granted patent. This may be an individual or, more commonly, a company, university or other legal entity. An applicant is named as part of the patent application process and is the legal holder of the rights to any resulting granted patent.

Who owns a patent inventor or company?

A patent application and any resulting patent is owned by the inventor(s) of the claimed invention, unless a written assignment is made or the inventors are under an obligation to assign the invention, such as an employment contract.

Can an LLC file a patent?

When filing for a patent, the inventor may designate a limited liability company (LLC) as owner of the patent. There are many opportunities that an LLC can provide to the inventor which may not exist for a single inventor working alone.

Who owns a US patent?

So who owns a patent/patent application? In the US, the inventor is presumed to be the initial owner of a patent or patent application. If there is more than one inventor, there may be more than one owner. Ownership can be transferred or reassigned.

Does my company own my invention?

With this investment, it should come as no surprise that employers generally own the intellectual property created by its employees in the course of their employment. However, intellectual property that is created by an employee, other than in the course of employment, is owned by the employee not the employer.

Should I assign my patent to my company?

Assigning your patent rights to your company helps to build the asset valuation of your company, which will be important to any investors or lenders you may seek. Investors and lenders will often require you to assign patent rights to your company before they will complete a transaction with your company.

Who has the right over a patent?

Who has a right to a patent? The right to a patent belongs to the inventor, his heirs or assigns. When two (2) or more persons have jointly made an invention, the right to a patent belongs to them jointly.

How long is a patent good for?

A U.S. utility patent, explained above, is generally granted for 20 years from the date the patent application is filed; however, periodic fees are required to maintain the enforceability of the patent.

What does it mean if a company has a patent?

A patent is the granting of a property right by a sovereign authority to an inventor. A patent provides the inventor exclusive rights to the patented process, design, or invention for a certain period in exchange for a complete disclosure of the invention.

What is a poor man's patent?

A poor man's patent is essentially writing out a description of your invention and then mailing that written description to yourself. This postmarked envelope supposedly acts to create the date of your invention as the date this written description was postmarked.

How much does a patent cost?

A patent attorney will usually charge between $8,000 and $10,000 for a patent application, but the cost can be higher. In most cases, you should budget between $15,000 and $20,000 to complete the patenting process for your invention.

How can I get a patent with no money?

The Patent Pro Bono Program attempts to match inventors with registered patent agents or patent attorneys. These practitioners volunteer their time without charging the inventor. However, the inventor still must pay all fees that are required by the USPTO; these cannot be paid by the practitioner.

Can a patent be sold?

A patent owner has the right to decide who may – or may not – use the patented invention for the period in which the invention is protected. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported, or sold by others without the patent owner's consent.

Can I remove my name from a patent?

Under Section 28(7), only those who were added as inventors as a consequence of the request(s) discussed earlier, can be removed. Such a request may be made by any person, and at any time.

Can you own a percentage of a patent?

An invention's patent is considered personal property. Under patent law, each co-inventor named on a patent application owns that property. In the absence of any agreement, each co-inventor owns 100 percent of the patent, regardless of how much each individual contributed to the invention.

Who owns the intellectual property of a patent?

Any new invention may be protected by a patent. A patent is issued by the Patent Office on behalf of the State. A valid patent gives the patent owner the right to prevent others, without the owner's permission, from carrying out the invention covered by the patent document.

How much do companies pay employees for patents?

“The amounts are typically nominal, ranging from $500 to $2,000, with many around the $1,000 level,” Omura says.

What are the three types of patents?

What kind of patent do you need? There are three types of patents - Utility, Design, and Plant. Utility patents may be granted to anyone who invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, article of manufacture, or compositions of matters, or any new useful improvement thereof.

Should I sell or license my patent?

Licensing the right to make, use, or sell your product is usually the most profitable route for inventors. As patent holder, you retain ownership of the invention and earn royalty payments on future sales of the product. You can grant an exclusive license to one company or several companies.

Can i filing a patent while employed?

India: Patents belong to employee if inventions not created as part of their employment. The Bombay High Court has recently found that patents filed by employees can belong to the employee if the employee was not been engaged or instructed to create inventions as part of his employment or during working hours.

Check these related keywords for more interesting articles :
How to differentiate between trademark and copyright
How a patent is obtained filed
Intellectual property business means
Stock intellectual property services a s
Intellectual property office england
Do you need a trademark to sell clothes
When did nike trademark just do it
How to file a patent application in uk
How much does it cost to trademark a name in georgia
Trademark protection without registration
How to patent a game board
How to brand wholesale products
How to pitch brand deals
How to trademark a name of a product
Trademark and service mark

Write a comment

Thanks for this great article

Thanks for your comment Denis Shuey, have a nice day.
- Lynette Cowens, Staff Member

how to make money from a patent so I got a great question for my YouTube viewers Franz love you guys who wrote in with his long comment about wanting to make money from a patent and big C's got this patent and he's trying to figure out should I go out and raise money get investors and build a company to create this product or should I sell my patent what's the best way to make money one of my advice so here's the thing okay typically the best way to make money from a patent is to license it out so it's not to go out and raise a bunch money and become an entrepreneur and build this huge business and selling it is is a potential option but it is a short term you get one-time cash influx where it's better if you can license it to a company and then every time they use it they're using in their production you get a small piece of the money so you get royalties coming back to you every month every week whatever it is okay that's typically the best way to do it the reason is you have to look at what your skill sets are okay a lot of people who aren't inventors are really great at inventing that's what they're really really good at that's what they should stick to that's what they that's where they get their their most fun and enjoyment and excitement is from inventing not from building a huge company right if you've got to go out and raise millions or hundreds of millions of dollars to build this business to leverage the patent that may not be what you're interested in that may not be what your skill set is and most of the inventors would go and try to do that they fail because they're not excited by that that's not what they saw what they want to do they just want to invent so stick to inventing and find the company who will pay you every time they use the patent your life licensing it out so in this case Franz was saying that it's it's really expensive to make this product it wouldn't make sense for him to do on his own so he's either got to raise lots of money or go out and sell it and what I encourage you to do is for example so think about say it say it helps cars okay say it helps cars with I don't know what your patent does but let's say it helps the car in the street okay you're not going to go out and raise hundreds and millions of dollars to create your own car company it's better to go and license it to the car companies every time they use it in the car you get paid a certain amount now how do you go out and negotiate one of these deals with a huge company now you may not have the connections to do it the best way to start I found is through connectors and the two best to look at our lawyers and accountants the bigger the name brand the better so an easy way to start is look at whoever did your patent so whatever company that you signed up with hopefully it's not just down the street patent broker you know some some patent lawyer but someone who's actually from a bigger company if they're from a bigger law firm then there are other connections in that law firm who have the in to the company that you need to talk to so if you're dealing with a big law firm and they have a patent you know patent attorney that you're dealing with people at that law firm know the the car company that you're trying to sell to they can make that connection for you and part of their job as lawyers are not just to be lawyers it's to help their clients and you might be a small client for them but the car company that's a big client for them and they want to make them happy and they could bring them a deal that helps improve their business and make them look good and gives them more Billings down the road so look at your law firm first and see how they might be able to help you the other is accounting firms so again a lot of these big accounting firms they have your client already you just need them to make the connection for you it can be a scenario where you're coming to them and you could be a potential client for them as well I'll be at a small client but you got to make this deal happen and they have the contacts to make it happen for you you just have to convince them that it's a good deal right for them to open up their contact book and make that introduction for you it has to make them look good right this is the whole idea is you're making them look good you want them do you want their clients telling them wow thank you so much for making this introduction so your invention has to really work and do a good job and convincing the accountants and the lawyers that it will do that will help them make them want to open up their books make them open up their kind get on the phone and set up the meetings for you so that's my best advice don't try to raise some money to launch this thing don't just sell it outright but try to arrange a licensing agreement where you're getting paid every single time somebody uses your patent belief usually watching like the video thumbs up below let me know what you think leave a comment ask a question below and click on my face to subscribe to the channel thank you so much I'll see you soon

Thanks m3l3J your participation is very much appreciated
- Lynette Cowens

About the author

Lynette Cowens

I've studied spacecraft propulsion at Central Baptist College in Conway and I am an expert in archaeology of the americas. I usually feel indifferent. My previous job was real estate appraiser I held this position for 2 years, I love talking about public transport riding and zebra hunting. Huge fan of Mat Fraser I practice pommel horse and collect comic books.