What if an inventor is unavailable or refuses to submit a statement for inventorship correction?
If an inventor is unavailable or refuses to submit a statement for inventorship correction in an issued patent, the assignee may consider filing a reissue application instead. As stated in MPEP 1481.02:
“If an inventor is not available, or refuses, to submit a statement, the assignee of the patent may wish to consider filing a reissue application to correct inventorship, because the inventor’s statement is not required for a non-broadening reissue application to correct inventorship.“
For more information on correcting inventorship in reissue applications, refer to MPEP § 1412.04.
To learn more: