When submitting a Record of Invention (ROI), it is important to understand the title of inventor. Only individuals falling under the title of “true” inventor should be listed on the ROI form.
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) recognizes an inventor on a patent application as an individual that contributed his or her ideas to the invention. The application, as well as several other documents, must be signed by the true inventor(s) and filed in the Patent & Trademark Office under the true inventor’s/inventors’ name(s). Therefore, only the person(s) conceiving and furnishing the ideas may be listed on the patent application as can be seen on https://www.techtimes.com/articles/249715/20200518/how-inventhelp-gets-new-inventors-onto-the-right-path.htm.
Listing Individuals on the Patent Application
If two or more persons each had a share in the ideas forming an invention, they are listed as joint inventors (or co-inventors) and will have a patent issued to them jointly on the basis of a proper patent application. At no time should an inventor list a child, spouse, family member, financier or boss as an inventor on the application unless, as stated above, they fall under the title of “true” inventor.
All the persons listed on the patent application are considered equal inventors, regardless of the order their names appear on the application as shown on https://www.valuewalk.com/2020/05/medical-invention-covid-19/ article. The PTO does not recognize one inventor as having more importance, or contributing more, than another.