In practice, the inventor often assigns the patent rights to another party, usually an employer or a company. Such transfers typically arise from employment contracts or statutory provisions governing employee inventions. In these cases, the transferee files the patent application as applicant, while the inventor must still be correctly named in the application. Artificial Intelligence can neither be inventor nor applicant.

The applicant is the person or entity that files and manages the patent application and holds the procedural rights during the application phase. During this phase, the applicant also has the rights to assign and license the application. If the patent application is not assigned during the process, the applicant becomes the patent owner upon grant, who then holds the substantive rights regarding licensing, assignment, and enforcement.

Both the patent application and the granted patent may be transferred at any time. These distinctions become particularly relevant where an invention is made by multiple inventors, since the right to file is jointly held unless agreed otherwise and no single inventor may act alone without the consent of the others or a valid assignment. Accordingly, it remains important to distinguish clearly between the roles of inventor, applicant and owner, even though these roles may coincide or change at different stages of the patent’s life cycle.

If these roles are not clearly defined and not properly documented, disputes may arise, and patent rights may be weakened or even lost. This can occur particularly in situations involving multiple inventors. Unclear entitlement can hinder prosecution, complicate licensing negotiations, or undermine enforcement actions.

To ensure legal certainty, patent assignments must generally be made in writing and signed by the assigning party to be legally effective. Assignments may be concluded before or after filing a patent application, and even after grant, but early assignment is strongly recommended to avoid disputes over ownership. Although an assignment may be valid between the parties once signed, it should preferably be entered in the patent register immediately. Registration is particularly important for prosecution, licensing, enforcement, and transactions involving third parties, as it provides transparency and legal certainty throughout the patent’s life cycle.

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Read the webpage ‘Is my patent actually my own?’