
177
11.11 The General Rule of Inventorship
inventoron the invention disclosure, Ian responds, “Well, he is the lab director,
and the unwritten rule around here is that his name goes on all the publica-
tionsand patents from the departments under his supervision.”
is is the easiest case to decide. e answer to the question of whether Brewster
is an inventor is a resounding “no.” It is clear that he had no involvement with
the inventive eort that resulted in the invention. Also, simply being “the boss”
doesn’t cut it from a legal point of view.
What about the notion of including Brewster as a professional courtesy or man-
agement policy? While th ...