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Intellectual Property

By Lynne Strober, Jennifer E. Presti, Elizabeth Lai Featherman and Joan M. D'Uva
February 29, 2016

Courts and negotiators, mediators and arbitrators across our country are grappling with questions surrounding the equitable distribution of intellectual property assets ' including, but not limited to, copyrights and patents. These assets require special assessments to properly establish value, but this area of the law has not yet been fully addressed by case law.

Intellectual property that may need to be distributed in a matrimonial action includes the following:

Patents: A patent for an invention is the grant of a property right to the inventor, issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The inventor or the patent owner has the right to utilize an invention and/or to allow others to use it via a license. A patent is granted by the government that allows the inventor to use or allow others to use the invention for a limited duration (typically 20 years) in exchange for the inventor to publicly disclose the invention. After a patent term ends, anyone is free to use the invention. In some cases, during the course of their employment, inventors are required to assign all their patent ownership rights in the invention to the company that employs them. Once the patent rights are assigned, the inventor will not retain any ownership rights.

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