Who must sign a supplemental oath or declaration?

The signing requirements for a supplemental oath or declaration depend on the nature of the correction being made. According to MPEP 603:

37 CFR 1.67(b) provides that a supplemental inventor’s oath or declaration under 37 CFR 1.67 must be executed by the person whose inventor’s oath or declaration is being withdrawn, replaced, or otherwise corrected.

For applications filed before September 16, 2012, the MPEP provides more detailed guidance:

• If the correction relates to all inventors or applicants, all must sign.
• If the correction relates to only certain inventors or applicants, only those to whom the correction relates need to sign.

In cases where an inventor is unable or unwilling to sign, the requirement for that inventor to sign the supplemental declaration may be suspended or waived in accordance with 37 CFR 1.183. In such cases, joint inventors or parties with sufficient proprietary interest may sign on behalf of the non-signing inventor.

To learn more:

• supplemental oath
• declaration
• signing requirements
• inventor
• applicant