Who can be an applicant for a U.S. National Stage Application?
For U.S. national stage applications with an international filing date on or after September 16, 2012, the applicant can be:
- The inventor(s)
- The legal representative of a deceased or legally incapacitated inventor
- The assignee
- The obligated assignee (i.e., a person to whom the inventor is under an obligation to assign the invention)
- A person who otherwise shows proprietary interest in the application
This is based on the America Invents Act (AIA) amendment to 35 U.S.C. 118, which expanded who may be an applicant in patent applications. The MPEP states: “For national stage applications having an international filing date on or after September 16, 2012, the person identified in the international stage as the applicant for the United States will normally be considered the applicant for the U.S. national stage application.” (See MPEP 1893.01(b))
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