Patent Inventorship: How Difficult is it to Add a Joint Inventor to an Issued Patent?

The inventorship of a patent application determines the owner(s) of any patent that issues. Although simple in concept, the determination of inventorship is complicated due to the legal requirements for an “inventor”, and evolving scope of the claimed invention during prosecution of the patent application until issuance of the patent. This lecture discusses the importance of determining the correct inventorship early in the patent prosecution process, and the high standard for adding a joint inventor to an issued patent, as highlighted in the Federal Circuit’s precedential decision in HIP, Inc. v. Hormel Foods Corp. (May 2023). 

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