patents
Is there a catch in signing patent request documents
<p>This is a bit broad, I know. As I cannot share the documents it is meant as a general question regarding patent requests. The CEO of my company has put me on a patent request papers. I had nothing to do with the patent and I wonder why would he do that. He says since we are a small team he wants us to share the success. What are the legal ramifications of being a co-author of a patent?</p>

<p>If this is a US patent application is a very bad idea for the company. Inaccurate inventorship could theoretically bring down a patent. Now, if that issue comes up in litigation the inventorship error can be administratively fixed. In the recent past, to fix inventorship took a statement under oath by almost everybody involved that it was not originally wrong due to a deceptive intent. I would find something online to show your boss that inventorship is not like authorship of an article where everyone remotely connected can be a co-author.</p>
