Co-Inventorship Claim Fails Due to Insufficient Evidence

Case: Stern v. Trustees of Columbia Univ., No. 05-1291 (Fed Cir. 1/17/06)

The One Sentence Summary: The Federal Circuit panel affirmed a grant of summary judgment against a plaintiff claiming to have been a co-inventor on a patent.


Federal Circuit Holdings:

• In order to prevail in a claim seeking to be added to a patent as an inventor, a plaintiff must prove its case by clear and convincing evidence because the patent is presumed to be valid.
• The performance of experiments conceived of and directed by the patentee did not entitle plaintiff to be named as a co-inventor.
• The claim that destroyed laboratory notebooks would support co-inventorship did not have merit because unwitnessed laboratory notebooks on their own would not support co-inventorship.