True inventors

When Parker Brothers found out that Darrow was not the true inventor of the game, they wanted to protect their rights to the successful game, so they went back to Lizzie Magie, now Mrs. Elizabeth... 

The definition of a true inventor is one who contributes to a novel feature of the invention as described in the claims [C-26]. The decision on who are the true inventors is best left until after an independent view from the patent agent has been... 

A patent claim may also be invalidated if the challenger shows that the patent does not cite the true inventor(s). A patent must list only the names of those individuals who contributed to at least one element of one or more claims. If the patent includes additional individuals who are not inventors or if the patent fails to include one or more true inventors, and the error in the naming of inventors occurred with deceptive intent, the claim(s) may be invalidated. 

Another formal requirement is that the patent application must designate the true inventors. The true inventors are the persons who have actually participated in achieving the invention. People who have only carried out routine tests (e.g. biological tests relating to screening) should not be regarded as true inventors. 

Identifying the true inventor is very important in the United States. According to the US patent law, any failure to designate the true inventor is a cause for invalidation of a patent. 

Cross-coupling reactions involving organotin derivatives are today linked indivisibly with the name of the late J. K. Stille, although it is known that he was not in fact the true inventor of this type of chemistry. 

On 27 March 1790, Leblanc deposited a document giving a complete description of his process with a notary in Paris, and this, discovered in 1856, gave him priority over Dize, who first published his claim in 1810. This claim was repeated in 1819 but a jury in that year, and also a commission appointed by the Academie des Sciences (Dumas, Thenard, Chevreul, Pelouze, Regnault, and Balard), reported that Leblanc was the true inventor. ... 

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