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2.6.2.3 Name of the Applicant and Inventor

Date Published

The name(s) of the applicant and inventor must appear on the patent request. The name of the applicant appearing on the request is the name that will ultimately appear on the certificate of grant. Transliterations from other alphabets are required.  

The name of the nominated person may also appear on the patent request.  However, where the name of the nominated person differs from the name of the applicant, this is of no effect as the applicant is taken to be the nominated person (reg 3.1A).


Examination Practice

Examiners are not expected to routinely check that the names of applicants and inventors are consistently stated throughout the documents on file. However, if examiners become aware of a significant difference, such that the names could not be that of the same person, an objection should be taken that it is not clear who is the applicant/inventor (as the case may be). Where there are conflicting statements, the applicant/inventor of record is that which is indicated on the patent request.

Where no inventor names are provided and the defect has not been raised by COG during formalities checking, examiners should object that the entitlement of the applicant to the grant of the patent is not clear.

Company Numbers

Australian law requires companies and other entities to quote their Australian Company Number (A.C.N.), Australian Registered Body Number (A.R.B.N.) and/or Australian Business Number (A.B.N.) on various documents.  The Commissioner does not have any responsibility to check for the inclusion, authenticity or accuracy of any such numbers that may be provided on the patent request (or other documents relating to prosecuting a patent application). Examiners should not object to the non-use of these numbers, and are not to use the numbers on any correspondence.  

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