Transfer (patent)

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As objects of intellectual property or intangible assets, patents and patent applications can be freely transferred. A transfer of patent or patent application can be the result of a financial transaction, such as an assignment, a merger, a takeover or a demerger, or the result of an operation of law, such as in an inheritance process, or in a bankruptcy.

The rationale behind the transferability of patents and patent applications is that it enables inventors to sell their rights and to let other people manage these intellectual property assets both on the valuation and enforcement fronts. As The Economist put it,

"Patents are transferable assets, and by the early 20th century they had made it possible to separate the person who makes an invention from the one who commercialises it. This recognised the fact that someone who is good at coming up with ideas is not necessarily the best person to bring those ideas to market." -- The Economist, A market for ideas, October 20, 2005.

[edit] United States

In the United States, assignment of a patent is governed by statute, 35 U.S.C. § 261. Assignment of an interest occurs only by an "instrument in writing". The statute also permits recording an assignment with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but recording is not required.