What is an IP Contract?

An inventor is someone who has taken part in either the concept or the reduction to practice that is the making of an invention, which is completely different than ownership. Most inventions, in fact, are not owned by the inventor. The inventor is most likely an engineer that works for a big company and he’s signed his rights right away to the company that he works for.

So ownership and inventorship are quite different things. People come to us and they say, “This is my invention. I’m here with my brother-in-law. We’re gonna own this thing together.”

And I said, “That’s fine. Who are the inventors?”

“We’ll put us both down.”

No, no, no. Who has actually done the work on the invention, the conception and the reduction to practice, the building of the idea, or actually contributed to the writing of the patent application?