1. Where another person obtains the right to apply for a patent for an invention-creation from the inventor or designer through a contract and applies for a patent. It should be noted that if an inventor or designer transfers his patent application right after filing a patent application, he shall submit the transfer contract to the Patent Office for the record, and the contract shall take effect after being registered by the Patent Office.
2. The successor of the invention-creation obtains the right to apply for a patent for the invention-creation through inheritance. To inherit the patent right being applied for, a request must be made to the Patent Office to change the applicant.
3. The law directly grants the patent application right to others other than the inventor or designer. The applicant for service invention-creation is the unit where the inventor or designer works. Therefore, the patent applicant and the patent inventor are not necessarily the same person, and there are differences.
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.
Article 7 No unit or individual may suppress an inventor or designer's application for a patent for non-service invention-creation.