Manatt intellectual property protection and enforcement partner Irah Donner wrote an article for Law360 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Schwendimann v. Arkwright Advanced Coating Inc., which held that a patent assignment must be documented in writing but that there are no specific requirements for the written document. In the article, Donner discussed the impact this decision might have on agreement drafters, assignors and assignees who are writing transfer or assignment documents for patents, saying, “there are many considerations when drafting transfer/assignment agreements, including specific contract language and applicable laws used for minimum requirements and interpretation. Due to this complexity, agreement drafters, assignors and assignees must be familiar with current requirements, as well as how the law may or will change in the future.”
Read the article here.