Coworker deceptively committed fraud

[jchiaia1]

What is the name of your state?
Connecticut

About 2 to 3 years ago a co-worker(boss at the time) deceptively changed the original filing paperwork and submitted his own to capture sole credit of inventorship. Since we were'nt going to manufacture the item he probably thought he would get away with it.
He was caught and this was brought to surface. At the time patent laws did not permit inventorship changes to the front page of the patent without opening up an investigation. The best they could do was add an amendment to show the correct inventorship and this shows up as the last page of the patent.
I actually started to look like the bad guy so to avoid making further waves in the company I quietly accepted this amendment with only an insincere apology to show for it from the co-worker.
I am now regretting my decision to let it go and want to know what my options are at this time if any.
Regards,
John

 

[divgradcurl]

best they could do was add an amendment to show the correct inventorship and this shows up as the last page of the patent.

That's called a "certificate of correction" and it's pretty much the only way to make a change to a published application. You can read all about correction and related topics here: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/documents/1400.htm

I actually started to look like the bad guy so to avoid making further waves in the company I quietly accepted this amendment with only an insincere apology to show for it from the co-worker.
I am now regretting my decision to let it go and want to know what my options are at this time if any.

What are you looking to achieve?

 

[jchiaia1]

Fraudulant activity

I guess I'm looking for closure. Justice was not served and it's been eating me up inside ever since. I'm finding it hard to just let it go. It does'nt help seeing this person on a daily basis. I figured he'd be gone by now.
I'm just wondering if I have any options at this point.

 

[divgradcurl]

I guess I'm looking for closure. Justice was not served and it's been eating me up inside ever since. I'm finding it hard to just let it go. It does'nt help seeing this person on a daily basis. I figured he'd be gone by now.
I'm just wondering if I have any options at this point.

Well, what would you consider closure?

 

[jchiaia1]

Fraudulant activity

Everyone deserves a second chance as long as that person takes responsibility for his actions. I would've been fine with what this person did if they were only able to change the front of the patent to show actual inventorship. Now if you search for this patent this persons name comes up so basically he committed fraud and got away free and clear and the icing on the cake is that this person had absolutely nothing to do with this patent. The only reason his name is there is because he was the boss at the time.

Closure to me would be to correct the front page of the patent to show actual inventors and eliminate the frauds name. I think this is something worth persuing since three years have past and I still think about it.

I just don't know whats involved, how much is involved and if it is worth persuing.

What's your thoughts?

 

[divgradcurl]

Closure to me would be to correct the front page of the patent to show actual inventors and eliminate the frauds name. I think this is something worth persuing since three years have past and I still think about it.

I just don't know whats involved, how much is involved and if it is worth persuing.

What's your thoughts?

Well, to be honest, I don't even know how you would correct an error like this without initiating a reexamination of the patent. Perhaps if you contacted the USPTO directly, they could steer you in the right direction. I don't know if this is something that can be fixed by simply petitioning the commissioner of the USPTO; if it is, then that might be worth a shot. But reexamination is a lot of work, and is not cost free, so that should be a last-resort sort of option. You can read about reexamination in the info I linked to in an earlier post.

So, go to www.uspto.gov, contact the USPTO, and ask them how you would go about correcting the front page of the patent -- that's your best bet.

BTW, do you still work for the company? Reason is, if the company owns the patent via assignment, they may need to agree to any changes to the front page of the patent (at least, changes not intitiated via reexamination). If they are on your side, then there's no problem -- but it is something to think about.