Opinion ID: 209891
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Overlap of Inventorship

Text: MacDermid argues that the '859 patent cannot claim priority to the provisional application because the provisional application named only one inventor, whereas the issued patent names five inventors. Because the provisional and non-provisional applications were identical, the argument goes, they should have named the same inventors, or DuPont should have at least amended the provisional application to name additional inventors. 37 C.F.R. § 1.48(d) (If the name or names of an inventor or inventors were omitted in a provisional application through error without any deceptive intention on the part of the omitted inventor or inventors, the provisional application may be amended to add the name or names of the omitted inventor or inventors.). According to MacDermid, overlap of at least one inventor is insufficient because all patent applications, including provisional applications, need to be made in the names of the true inventors. We disagree. This court has held that for [a] non-provisional utility application to be afforded the priority date of the provisional application, the two applications must share at least one common inventor. New Railhead Mfg., L.L.C. v. Vermeer Mfg. Co., 298 F.3d 1290, 1294 (Fed.Cir.2002). While an applicant can correct the inventorship of a provisional application under 37 C.F.R. § 1.48(d), both comments in final rulemaking on this regulation and the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure state that correction of inventorship of a provisional application is normally not necessary unless the correction is needed to establish an overlap of inventorship. Manual of Patent Examining Procedure § 201.03 (8th ed., Rev.6, 2007) (MPEP) (For provisional applications, it may not be necessary to correct the inventorship under 37 CFR 1.48(d) and (e) unless there would be no overlap of inventors upon the filing of the nonprovisional application with the correct inventorship.); Changes to Patent Practice and Procedure, 62 Fed.Reg. 53132, 53139 (Oct. 10, 1997) (Section 1.48(d)(1) is also clarified to specify that the error to be addressed is the inventorship error. It is not expected that the party filing a provisional application will normally need to correct an error in inventorship under this paragraph by adding an inventor therein except when necessary under § 1.78 to establish an overlap of inventorship with a continuing application.). The MPEP further states: An error in not naming or in naming a person as an inventor in a provisional application would not require correction under either 37 C.F.R. 1.48(d) (to add an inventor) or 37 C.F.R. 1.48(e) (to delete an inventor) in the provisional application so long as the nonprovisional application naming the correct inventorship would contain an overlap of at least one inventor with the provisional application. The existence of inventorship overlap would prevent the original inventorship error from having any effect upon the ability of the provisional application to serve as a basis for a benefit claim under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. MPEP § 201.03 (emphasis added). In this case, the provisional application named Roxy Ni Fan as an inventor, and the non-provisional also named Fan as an inventor. Thus, there is at least one common inventor in the provisional and non-provisional, and the requirement for overlap of inventorship was met.