What happens if a juristic entity is incorrectly listed as an inventor in an international design application?
If a juristic entity is incorrectly listed as an inventor in an international design application designating the United States, it will result in a rejection of the application. The MPEP 2920.01 provides specific guidance on this issue:
“Where a nonprovisional international design application identifies a juristic entity as an inventor, Form Paragraph 29.04 should be used to reject the claim under 35 U.S.C. 171 and 35 U.S.C. 115 for failing to set forth the correct inventorship.”
The rejection will be based on the fact that under U.S. patent law, inventors must be natural persons, not legal entities. To overcome this rejection, the applicant must correct the inventorship by following the procedures outlined in 37 CFR 1.48(a), which includes submitting a properly signed and marked-up Application Data Sheet (ADS) identifying each inventor by their legal name, along with the required fees.
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