Who should be listed as “inventors” on the Technology Disclosure Form?
• Unlike authorship of a scientific publication, inventorship is a matter of law. A patent that fails to name the correct inventors may be ruled invalid. • A lawful inventor is one who makes an inventive contribution to one or more of the claims that formally define the invention. Someone who provides equipment, space or money, no matter how critical to the development of the invention, is not an inventor. Also, someone who performs work under the supervision of another party is not an inventor, even though that person may have worked long hours or conducted a critical experiment. • Because patent claims may change as the patent application is being drafted and also while it is undergoing prosecution by the patent office, inventorship may change as well. • For the purposes of filing your Technology Disclosure Form with the OTM, simply name as inventors any individuals who have made a creative contribution to the invention (a creative contribution may include contributing a seminal idea
