[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 37, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 37CFR1.45]

[Page 39-40]
 
              TITLE 37--PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS
 
                         DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
 
PART 1--RULES OF PRACTICE IN PATENT CASES--Table of Contents
 
                Subpart B--National Processing Provisions
 
Sec. 1.45  Joint inventors.

    (a) Joint inventors must apply for a patent jointly and each must 
make the required oath or declaration: neither of them alone, nor less 
than the entire number, can apply for a patent for an invention invented 
by them jointly, except as provided in Sec. 1.47.
    (b) Inventors may apply for a patent jointly even though
    (1) They did not physically work together or at the same time,
    (2) Each inventor did not make the same type or amount of 
contribution, or
    (3) Each inventor did not make a contribution to the subject matter 
of every claim of the application.
    (c) If multiple inventors are named in a nonprovisional application, 
each named inventor must have made a contribution, individually or 
jointly, to the subject matter of at least one claim of the application 
and the application will be considered to be a joint application under 
35 U.S.C. 116. If multiple inventors are named in a provisional 
application, each named inventor must have made a contribution, 
individually or jointly, to the subject

[[Page 40]]

matter disclosed in the provisional application and the provisional 
application will be considered to be a joint application under 35 U.S.C. 
116.

(35 U.S.C. 6, Pub. L. 97-247)

[48 FR 2709, Jan. 20, 1983, as amended at 50 FR 9379, Mar. 7, 1985; 60 
FR 20222, Apr. 25, 1995]