Co-ownership, otherwise known as ‘joint ownership’, is where two or more individuals or companies jointly own a patent or patent application. The default arrangement is that the parties hold an equal share in the ownership, unless there is an agreement to the contrary. Co-ownership entitles each party to work the invention without infringing the rights of the other parties, i.e. no permission need be sought from the other parties before the invention is put into practice. However, all parties must agree in order to amend the patent/application or to license or assign it.
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