Patent assignment: How-to guide

A company’s ability to buy and sell property is essential for its long-term life and vitality. Although it doesn’t take up physical space, too much intellectual property can burden a company, directing limited funds towards maintaining registrations, defending against third-party claims, or creating and marketing a final product.

Selling unused or surplus intellectual property can have an immediate positive effect on a company’s finances, generating revenue and decreasing costs. When it does come time to grow a business, companies looking to purchase property (including patents and other inventions) to support their growth must be sure that the seller does have title to the desired items. A properly drafted patent assignment can help in these circumstances.

A patent assignment is the transfer of an owner’s property rights in a given patent or patents and any patent applications. These transfers may occur independently or as part of larger asset sales or purchases. Patent assignment agreements provide both records of ownership and transfer and protect the rights of all parties.

This agreement is a written acknowledgment of the rights and responsibilities being transferred as part of your sale. This will provide essential documentation of ownership and liability obligations, and you will be well on your way to establishing a clear record of title for all of your patents.

Important points to consider while drafting patent assignments

What is a patent?

A patent is a set of exclusive rights on an invention given by the government to the inventor for a limited period. Essentially, in exchange for the inventor’s agreement to make their invention public and allow others to examine and build on it, the government provides the inventor with a short-term monopoly on their creation. In other words, only they can make, use, or sell that invention.

Are licenses and assignments different from each other?

Licenses are different from assignments. The individual who receives license rights from the patent holder isn’t gaining ownership. Rather, they’re getting assurance from the patent holder that they won’t be sued for making, using, or selling the invention. The terms of the license will vary from agreement to agreement and may address issues of royalties, production, or reversion.

What are the different kinds of patent assignments?

A patent assignment can take many forms.

• It can be the transfer of an individual’s entire interest to another individual or company.
• It can also transfer a specific part of that interest (e.g., half interest, quarter interest, etc.) or a transfer valid only in a designated country area. The exact form of the transfer is specific to the parties' agreement.

What is the role of the United States Patent and Trademark Office in patent transfer?

A patent transfer is usually accomplished through a contract, like the following written agreement form. However, after the parties have negotiated and signed their agreement, the transfer must be recorded with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The agreement will only be effective if this registration is made. Moreover, if the transfer isn’t recorded within three months from the date of the assignment, there can be no later purchasers. In other words, such patents are no longer sellable to a third party by the assignee if it isn’t recorded quickly and correctly.

Note that there is a fee for recording each assignment of a patent or patent application.

What details should I add to my patent application?

Although you can adapt the document to suit your arrangement, you should always identify the patent(s) being assigned by their USPTO number and date and include the name of the inventor and the invention’s title (as stated in the patent itself). This is a requirement of federal law, and failure to follow it could invalidate your assignment.

What are the benefits of patent assignment?

The advantage of selling your invention or patent outright (and not simply licensing or attempting to develop and market it yourself) is that you’re guaranteed payment at the price you and the purchaser have negotiated.

On the other hand, that one-time payment is all that you will ever receive for your property. You will no longer have the right to control anyone else’s use of your creation.

By using it yourself or offering a temporary license, you retain the potential for future income. However, such income isn’t certain, and your opportunities are paralleled by risk.

Before selling all of your rights in a patent or patent application, ensure this is the best (and most lucrative) approach for you and your company.

Is it necessary to do due diligence before buying a patent?

Provide valuable consideration to due diligence, and don’t agree without completing it. If you purchase a patent, conduct searches with the patent office on the patents issued and online directories to ensure the seller has complete and unique rights in the offered property. Look for these:

• Has an application already been filed by another person or company?
• What are the chances that this is a patentable item?

Although your findings won’t be guaranteed, you may be protected as an “innocent purchaser” if disputes arise.

You might also find critical information about the value of the patent. Consider hiring a patent attorney to help in your investigation. Comparing patents and applications often requires a specialized and technical understanding to know how useful and unique each one is.

What should I consider while selling a patent?

If you sell an invention or patent, ensure you own it. Although this may seem obvious, intellectual property ownership sometimes must be clarified. This may be the case if, for example, the invention was created as part of your employment or if it was sold or otherwise transferred to somebody else. A thorough search of the USPTO website for the publication number should be conducted before you attempt to sell your property.

Is reviewing and signing the patent necessary?

Review the assignment carefully to ensure all relevant deal points are included. Don't assume certain terms are agreed upon if not stated in the document.

Once the document is ready, sign two copies of the assignment, one for you and one for the other party.

Get the assignment notarized by the notary public to reduce the challenges to the validity of a party’s signature or the transfer itself.

If you’re dealing with a complex agreement for a patent assignment, contact an attorney to help draft an assignment that meets your needs.

Key components to include in patent assignments

The following provisions will help you understand the terms of your assignment. Please review the entire document before starting your step-by-step process.

Introduction of parties

This section identifies the document as a patent assignment. Add the assignment effective date, parties involved, and what type of organization(s) they are. The “assignor” is the party giving their ownership interest, and the “assignee” is the party receiving it.

Recitals

The “whereas” clauses, or recitals, define the world of the assignment and offer key background information about the parties. In this agreement, the recitals include a simple statement of the intent to transfer rights in the patent. Remember that the assignor can transfer all or part of its interest in the patents.

Assignment of patents

This section constitutes the assignment and acceptance of patents and inventions. Be as complete and clear as possible in your description of the property being transferred.

Consideration

In most agreements, each party is expected to do something. This obligation may be to perform a service, transfer ownership of property, or pay money. In this case, the assignee gives money (sometimes called “consideration”) to receive the assignor’s property. Enter the amount to be paid, and indicate how long the assignee has to make that payment after the agreement is signed.

Authorization to a director

This section is the assignor’s authorization to issue patents in the assignee’s name. In other words, this tells the head of the patent and trademark office that the transfer is valid and that ownership is changing hands by the assignment.

If the assignment is being recorded after the USPTO has issued a patent number, add the patent application number here.

Assignor’s representations and warranties

In this section, the assignor is agreeing to the following terms:

• They’re the sole owner of the inventions and the patents. If there are other owners who aren’t transferring their interests, this means that the only part being transferred is the assignor’s part.
• They haven’t sold or transferred the inventions and the patents to any third party.
• They have the authority to enter the agreement.
• They don’t believe that the inventions and the patents have been taken from any third party without authorization (e.g., a knowing copy of another company’s invention).
• They don’t know if any permissions must be obtained for the assignment to be completed. In other words, once the agreement is signed, the assignment will be effective without anyone else’s input.
• The patents weren’t created while a third party employed the creator. In many cases, if a company employs an individual and comes up with a product, the company will own that product. This section offers assurance to the assignee that there are no companies that will make that claim about the patents being sold.

If you and the other party want to include additional representations and warranties, you can do so here.

Assignee’s representations and warranties

In this section, the assignee is agreeing to the following terms:

• They have the authority to enter into the agreement
• They have enough funds to pay for the assignment

If you and the other party want to include additional representations and warranties, you can do so here.

No early assignment

This section prevents the assignee from re-transferring the inventions or patents or using any of them as collateral for loans until it has completely paid the money due under the agreement.

Documentation

This clause is the assignor’s promise to help with any paperwork needed to complete an assignment, such as filing information about the assignment with the USPTO, transferring document titles, transferring paperwork for filing to foreign countries, etc.

No further use of inventions or patents

This section indicates that after the agreement’s filing date, the assignor will stop using all the inventions and patents being transferred and won’t challenge the assignee’s use of those inventions or patents.

Indemnification

This clause describes each party’s future obligations if the patent or any application is found to infringe on a third party’s rights. Either the assignor agrees to take all responsibility for infringement, promising to pay all expenses and costs relating to the claim, or the assignor makes its responsibilities conditional, significantly limiting its obligations if a claim is brought.

Successors and assigns

This section states that the parties’ rights and obligations will be passed on to successor organizations (if any) or organizations to which rights and obligations have been permissibly assigned.

No implied waiver

This clause explains that even if one party allows the other to ignore or break an obligation under the agreement, it doesn’t mean that the party waives any future rights to require the other to fulfill those (or any other) obligations.

Notice

Provide the assignor and assignee’s address where all the official or legal correspondence should be delivered.

Governing law

This provision lets the parties choose the state laws used to interpret the document.

Counterparts; electronic signatures

This section explains that if the parties sign the agreement in different locations, physically or electronically, all the separate pieces will be considered part of the same agreement.

Severability

This clause protects the terms of the agreement as a whole, even if one part is later invalidated. For example, if a state law is passed prohibiting choice-of-law clauses, it won’t undo the entire agreement. Instead, only the section dealing with the choice of law would be invalidated, leaving the remainder of the assignment enforceable.

Entire agreement

This section indicates the parties’ agreement that the document they’re signing is “the agreement” about transferring the issued patent.

Headings

This clarifies that the headings at the beginning of each section are meant to organize the document and shouldn’t be considered operational parts of the note. 

Frequently asked questions

What is a patent assignment?

If you want to buy patents, the first step is to ensure the seller (original owner) owns the patent rights. The second step is the transfer of the patent owner's rights to the buyer. Patent assignments are agreements that cover both steps, helping the buyer and the seller with ownership records and quickly enabling transfer.

What are the requirements for patent assignment?

Here's the information you'll require to complete a patent assignment:

• Who the assignor is: Have their name and contact information ready
• Who the assignee is: Have their information available
• Invention info: Know the inventor's name, invention's registration number, and filing date