Important reminder for all inventors that have patents in the UK: From 1 September 2016 the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) will stop notifying inventors when they have been mentioned in a patent application.
From 1 September 2016 on the Office will no longer send inventors copies of patent form 7s, the IPO stated on Friday. In May the IPO already discussed with their stakeholders about future notifications for inventors that are not also patent applicants. Though IPO will stop sending notifications to those inventors, there is no proposed change to the way the Intellectual Property Office communicates with inventors who are also applicants.
Numerous reasons to stop the notifications
The IPO argues that there are a number of reasons why they are considering this change:
- we are no longer legally obliged to notify inventors of their inclusion in a patent application
- the majority of inventors are already aware of their inclusion in an application. Many are employed by the applicant, or have assigned or agreed to assign, their right to be granted a patent
- we have evidence that a number of inventors have been confused by our existing notifications, incorrectly assuming they have to respond in some way
- we currently only notify inventors in applications which do not claim priority from an earlier application. This results in different processing depending on the type of application and we would like to standardise our approach in this area
Do you (still) want to stay “up-to-date” with your invention?
You are an inventor that is not also patent applicant, but you still want to stay up-to-date with your invention/patent? Then you may consider contacting us so that we can evaluate your case and find the best solution.
Request a call-back without and obligations now:
Source:
IPO-Press Release on www.Gov.uk
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