Inventorship Standards, Joint Inventorship and Procedures in Inventorship Disputes in U.S. Patent Law and German Patent Law


 This article deals with the standard for assessing joint inventorship in German and U.S. patent law, which is of great importance given the strong legal position that is assigned to each joint inventor as co-owner of a patent issued as a result. The article explains the criteria used by German and U.S. courts to determine whether a person is to be viewed as a joint inventor. It also deals with the remedies available to affected parties who want to defend themselves against an incorrect determination of joint inventorship. Both jurisdictions have established a similar approach to determine joint inventorship by examining the quality of the respective contributions to the invention of each possible joint inventor. The German and U.S. courts have established a low bar for granting joint inventorship status that risks assigning far-reaching legal powers to a large number of persons. In contrast to the similarities in substantive law, the remedies available are rather different in the two jurisdictions. The article concludes with a proposal for limiting the excessively broad joint inventorship standard by redefining the criterion of collaboration, which is considered an essential element of joint inventorship in both jurisdictions but has received little attention in judicial practice.