602.01(c)(2) Correcting or Updating Inventor Name 37 CFR 1.48(f) â Request Filed On or After September 16, 2012 [R-07.2022]
602.01(c)(2) Correcting or Updating Inventor Name 37 CFR 1.48(f) – Request Filed On or After September 16, 2012 [R-07.2022]
[Editor Note: See MPEP § 602.01(c)(3) in Revision 08.2017 of the Ninth Edition of the MPEP, published in January 2018 for a discussion of the requirements for requests to correct or update inventor name filed before September 16, 2012.]
37 CFR 1.48 Correction of inventorship in a patent application, other than a reissue application, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 116.
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- (f) Correcting or updating the name of an inventor: Any request to correct or update the name of the inventor or a joint inventor, or the order of the names of joint inventors, in a nonprovisional application must include:
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The change in the order of the names of inventors in a provisional application is not provided for since provisional applications do not become application publications or patents.
The procedures for correction of inventorship and for correction to the name of an inventor or to the order of the names of the inventors are not distinct. 37 CFR 1.48(f) permits an applicant to change or update a particular inventor’s name if their legal name has changed (e.g., due to marriage), or an inventor’s name contains an error (e.g., typographical or transliteration mistake or the reversal of family or given names) and allows an applicant to adjust the order of the names of joint inventors (e.g., to control the order of names on a printed patent). 37 CFR 1.48(f) specifically provides that any request to correct or update the name of the inventor or a joint inventor, or the order of the names of joint inventors, in a nonprovisional application must include: (1) an application data sheet in accordance with 37 CFR 1.76 that identifies each inventor by their legal name in the desired order (identifying the information that is being changed as required by 37 CFR 1.76(c)(2)); and (2) the processing fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(i). In addition to the corrected application data sheet, the request should also identify the desired inventor name change.
See MPEP § 602.01(c)(1) for a copy of form PTO/AIA/40 that may be used to correct or update in inventor’s name or change the order of names in applications (other than reissue applications).