Can a patent applicant be different from an inventor or designer?

Legal analysis: Yes. For service inventions, the applicant is a work unit (possibly a legal person), not an inventor or designer. The right to apply for a patent can be transferred. After the transfer, the applicant changes, and the inventor or designer remains the same. The invention-creation completed through cooperation or entrustment may stipulate the ownership of the patent right. The applicant can be the entrusting party or one of the partners, but the inventor or designer remains the same, which can be understood as a kind of property right, which can be transferred and agreed, and the applicant can change. The personal right (right of signature) of the inventor or designer will not change.

Legal basis: Article 6 of the Patent Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) refers to inventions and creations made by performing the tasks of the entity or mainly using the material and technical conditions of the entity. The right to apply for a patent for a service invention-creation belongs to the unit; After the application is approved, the entity shall be the patentee. The right to apply for a patent for a non-service invention-creation belongs to the inventor or designer; After the application is approved, the inventor or designer shall be the patentee. Where an invention-creation completed by making use of the material and technical conditions of the entity has a contract with the inventor or designer to stipulate the right to apply for a patent and the ownership of the patent, such agreement shall prevail.