Patent decision

BL number

O/407/16

Concerning rights in

GB2459912

Hearing Officer

Mr H Jones

Decision date

24 August 2016

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Alan Neath v Peter Neath

Provisions discussed

Section 13(3) and Rule 10(2)

Keywords

Inventorship

Related Decisions

O/026/14, O/371/13

Summary

The claimant applied to have the defendant’s name removed as inventor in the patent and to have his name replaced as the sole inventor. The patent relates to a tool handle which allows the tool, e.g. a garden fork, to be used in singe-handed or double-handed use. The claimant explained that he devised the handle in the course of his employment as a gardener, and worked on improving the handle with his brother, the defendant in the case, in the defendant’s workshop. On the basis of the evidence filed, the claimant was able to demonstrate that he was the deviser of three of four aspects of the invention set out in the patent and so the Hearing Officer ordered his name to be added as an inventor. The Hearing Officer found that the defendant had been involved in devising a fourth aspect of the invention set out in the patent and that his name should not be removed as an inventor.

Full decision O/407/16 616Kb