Anyone who claims to have better rights to the invention than the patent applicant bears the burden of proof and must support their claim.

Write to PRV that you believe you have better rights to the invention than the person who has applied for the patent and attach documents supporting that. The opponent is always allowed to read the documents and given the opportunity to respond to your claims.

Transfer or co-applicant

You can request that PRV transfers the patent application in its entirety to you. You can also request that you be registered as co-inventor and co-applicant, meaning that only part of the patent application is transferred.

If you manage to convince us that you have better rights to the invention than the person who has applied for the patent, PRV will transfer the application in its entirety to you, on the condition that you have requested that. If we do, you must pay a new filing fee so that processing of the application can continue. Alternatively, we can register you as co-inventor and co-applicant if you have requested that.

Please note that if you only claim that you have better rights to the invention and have not also requested a transfer, the patent application will be rejected instead.

Court proceedings

If PRV cannot decide who has the rights to the invention, we can serve you a notice to institute proceedings in court within two months. If you do not do that, PRV will not consider your claim to better rights when we continue processing the patent application.