Patent Reassignment

[patentback]

I'm a MAJORITY shareholder in a California corporation to which I assigned several previously existing patents that I owned and was the Inventor. The company has been dormant for over three years, never generated significant revenue or profits and has not even done yearly filings with the state. As majority shareholder, I want to dissolve the corporation and get my patents back. The other shareholders, who are also co-members of the BOD with me, want me to pay them money for a license to use the patents. What recourse do I have?

 

[divgradcurl]

I'm a MAJORITY shareholder in a California corporation to which I assigned several previously existing patents that I owned and was the Inventor. The company has been dormant for over three years, never generated significant revenue or profits and has not even done yearly filings with the state. As majority shareholder, I want to dissolve the corporation and get my patents back. The other shareholders, who are also co-members of the BOD with me, want me to pay them money for a license to use the patents. What recourse do I have?

This isn't a patent issue, it's a corporations issue. If you assigned the patents to the corporation, they are a corporate asset -- you have no more right over them than any other owner, absent an agreement to the contrary.

In general, a shareholder has some power to force the dissolution of a corporation. You should talk with a local attorney to figure out what your options are, and see ifthere is some way you can negotiate to have the patents returned to you upon dissolution.