I had recently been working on a project that ended up being something that my company is filing for a patent. The company will own the patent, but I will be credited as one of the inventors. Really cool spot that I honestly never expected to be in.

With that being said, I'm fairly sick of the job and have been tossing around the idea leaving and have recently had a few companies reach out asking me to apply. The company has already been granted the provisional patent. My understanding is that you have one year from when you're granted the provisional to file for a full blown patent (which I believe would be coming up in January). Question is, if I were to leave my company prior to filing for the full fledged patent in January, is there a way my name could be left off the patent, or is it pretty much on there for good since the provisional was already filed and granted?

Patent agent here. If you are an inventor (contributed to the claims), your name has to stay on the patent application (patent, if it's granted). If it's dropped and someone finds out and challenges the granted patent in court, if could be found invalid because of incorrect/incomplete inventorship.

Why do you want your name off? There is no reason to remove it. My company has inventors leave all the time. It's a little extra legwork to get all the proper documents signed, but no big deal in the grand scheme.

Thanks for the insight. And I was asking in the hopes that it would not be left off. Never expected to be in a spot to have my name on a patent as a contributor, and didn't want all the work to be for nothing if I left and my name was left off the patent since I was leaving the company

If you are truly an inventor, that would be unethical and the patent attorneys/agents can lose their patent bar registration over it. Not to mention, it compromises the validity of the patent, if it grants. Like I said, my company deals with inventors who have left all the time. It's not a big deal, and there are too many reasons that make removing you not worth the risk.

TXTransplant said:

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Why do you want your name off?

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That's some interesting reading comprehension right there!

Haha…I have no idea why I read it that way. Too many distractions/other things on my mind, I guess!