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Science 11 August 2000:
Vol. 289. no. 5481, pp. 873 - 875
DOI: 10.1126/science.289.5481.873
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Policy Forum

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:
Coauthorship and Coinventorship

Philippe Ducor

Although the accepted criteria used for inclusion as author or inventor are similar, the average number of authors in scientific articles is significantly higher than the number of inventors on the corresponding patents. This finding can be attributed to an artificial inflation of coauthors, to the exclusion of coinventors, or--more probably--to a mix of both causes. This article argues that the discrepancy between the numbers of coauthors and inventors can have significant legal consequences, as the exclusion of an inventor can render a U.S. patent invalid or seriously harm its value. A proposal aiming to avoid such consequences and taking into account legal as well as authorship credit considerations is described.

The author is at the University of Geneva Law School and BMG Avocats, CH-1211 Geneva 12, Switzerland. E-mail: philippe.ducor{at}bmglaw.ch

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Academic Relationships With Industry: A New Model for Biomedical Research.
H. Moses III and J. B. Martin (2001)
JAMA 285, 933-935
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E-Letters:

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Plagiarism
Edward Harris
Science Online, 7 Sep 2000 [Full text]
Coauthorship Does Not Always Equal Coinventorship
David J. Aston
Science Online, 20 Sep 2000 [Full text]
Counting Apples vs. Oranges
Michael A. Lonetto
Science Online, 21 Sep 2000 [Full text]
Another Point of View
Susan Tees
Science Online, 20 Sep 2000 [Full text]
Re: Coauthorship Does Not Always Equal Coinventorship
Philippe Ducor
Science Online, 22 Sep 2000 [Full text]
Re: Another Point of View
Philippe Ducor
Science Online, 22 Sep 2000 [Full text]

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