3 ms·

There are places of employment where having your name attached to a patent is only barely optional. They hire "patent experts" to go around and figure out what

There are places of employment where having your name attached to a patent is only barely optional. They hire "patent experts" to go around and figure out what is supposedly patentable with little to no input from developers and then have the "inventors" who touched those bits sign off on it (thus having their name attached to the patent). And of course you don't have to agree to this, but not agreeing essentially comes in the form of quitting or at least creating a schism that didn't exist between you and your manager and/or team. While there exists a group of developers whose geographical situation and years of experience allow them to easily quit over such matters, there are plenty who aren't so lucky. So while I am very much against software patents, I only support "naming and shaming" when it comes to those who are initiating, publically supporting or otherwise directly involved on the offensive side of patent lawsuits.

scromar 14y ago
Even if the inventor refuses to sign the declaration, if they have an obligation to assign and are truly an inventor, their name will appear on the face of the patent. There are procedures at the patent office for proceeding with getting a patent even when an inventor refuses to sign.
- Zuider 14y ago
  But if the original inventor refuses to sign off, they will find someone else to 'invent' it.
hkmurakami 14y ago
Wow that's the worst situation I've heard of wrt to patent writing, but there are other, more seemingly innocuous ones too. For instance, many places have departmental quotas on patents filed, and often have patents as a parameter in their quarterly/annual performance criteria.
russell 14y ago
I've been in that position. I even argued that the patent application was invalid due to prior art. The patent people consulted with other developers and just presented me with the paper work to sign. I signed it. It was that or be labeled as uncooperative. This was a company of 60 people, not some mega-corp.

scromar 14y ago

Even if the inventor refuses to sign the declaration, if they have an obligation to assign and are truly an inventor, their name will appear on the face of the patent. There are procedures at the patent office for proceeding with getting a patent even when an inventor refuses to sign.

Zuider 14y ago
But if the original inventor refuses to sign off, they will find someone else to 'invent' it.

hkmurakami 14y ago

Wow that's the worst situation I've heard of wrt to patent writing, but there are other, more seemingly innocuous ones too. For instance, many places have departmental quotas on patents filed, and often have patents as a parameter in their quarterly/annual performance criteria.

russell 14y ago

I've been in that position. I even argued that the patent application was invalid due to prior art. The patent people consulted with other developers and just presented me with the paper work to sign. I signed it. It was that or be labeled as uncooperative. This was a company of 60 people, not some mega-corp.