Greetings, I am engineer and invented new system with hard work and experience 14 year and would like to make it patented. But I am working with company from last 14 years which is in same product. there patent is recently refused by patent office as it already published before application date. company(small-scale) will not give me any kind partnership for this and earn good money. if i share invention with them they will apply on their own name and not give me single rupee for it. I have not made any kind of agreement with them on stamp paper, but once NDA signed on company letterhead (I signed as Sr. Engineer on only last page which one is normal printed paper and there is no sign of any witness ) I would like to apply for patent as applicant and inventor as my sister (name after marriage) she is B.E in information technology and my friend who is the ex-employee of same company (where I am working now). Can they put any court-case on me if applicant is my sister and friend? but, they will only know it if patent gets granted because I will not use it if not granted. should I apply this patent with my sister name or avoid it?
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There exists no provision that allows the Courts to recognize the right of an employer over an invention created during the course of employment.
2)the Indian Patents Act, 1970 considers the inventor to be the first and foremost owner of an invention.
3) you have not signed a pre-invention assignment that bestows all rights to the employer over any inventions that the employee creates during the completion of normal duties assigned to him.
4) you can apply for parent in sister name
From your contents it can be seen that there's condition of employment which restricts you from any invention nor the company can claim any rights over your invention for any reason.
You can apply for patent rights to your invention and per procedure complied therewith.
The patent can be applied on your sister's name too.
The company cannot dispute the invention patented on her name neither any case would be maintainable
No they can't if you are not related to the above transaction
If the patent is published and once refused by patent Registrar, any subsequent application will also be rejected as it is published patent. Further though she is BE in IT she has to state the working of patent and history as to how she developed which is difficult for to do as she is not an employee with required experience. Further, nda signed by you is valid agreement as you have singed at the end of it, though there are no attesting witnesses you cannot deny your signature. Though making an application will not cause any harm to you but after grant of patent, your employer can create problems for you.
Dear client I am sorry to hear that but any invention done in the course of the employment will be the invention on part of the company and the soul owner of that painted will be the company however if you have discovered or inveted something outside the scope of employment then you can registered it as patent in anyone's name you wish to do
In patent application, if we show granted Indian patent in prior art, will patent office ask them(granted patent owner) any question or they get information about patent application?
The authority granting patent rights would instruct you to comply with the prescribed procedures for grant of patent rights properly.
In case of any discrepancy or deviation in compliance, your application would be liable to be rejected.
Hence you should scrutinize and comply with necessary requirements properly and ensure correctness before submitting your application.
Yes you can do the needful. Yes they will ask them
All the patent applications are kept secret upto 18 months from the date of filing or priority date whichever is earlier and thereafter they are published in the Official Journal of the Patent Office which is published every week and also available on the IPO website. After its publication, public can inspect the documents and also may take the photocopy thereof on payment of the fee as prescribed.
2)the communications with the office are made through emails. However, hearing proceedings relating to patent application can be attended with prior appointment on any working day during prosecution stage.
- As per Patent Act, any person who invents patentable technology is by default entitled to the patent rights in respect of that technology.
- However, if the equipment and the space for making this patentable technology was provided by the inventor's employer, then the employee cannot be the owner of that invention.
- Further, the employee who claims to be the inventor is also bound by the employment agreement ,and further he can be considered as an Inventor if he has got a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the employer , and he has used his own funds and materials to develop the invention outside of his working hours
- As per the Bombay High Court , the patents filed by employees can belong to the employee if the employee was not been engaged or instructed to create inventions as part of his employment or during working hours.
- Hence, if you can register and patent that invention with the opted name legally.
