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50 Seton Hall L. Rev. 1 (2019-2020)

handle is hein.journals/shlr50 and id is 1 raw text is: 












    Spousal   Rights  to Inventions:   A  Latent  Threat   to
                 Corporate   Patent   Portfolios


              Daniel H. Shulman and Angela Upchurch*



I.INTRODUCTION                      ............................................. 2
II.PATENT OWNERSHIP AND  ITS CONSEQUENCES      ..................3
III.FAMILY LAW  AND  OWNERSHIP   OF PERSONAL   PROPERTY:  THE
      COMMUNITY PROPERTY AND EQUITABLE PROPERTY
      APPROACHES  TO MARITAL  PROPERTY      .....................4
      A.  Treatment of Marital Property During Marriage and at
          Dissolution...................5...........   5
      B.  Challenges to Treating Patents as Property Under Family
          Law.........................................7
      C.  Management  of Marital Property During the Marriage......9
IV.EXAMINATION OF PATENT OWNERSHIP DISPUTES AMONG
      EMPLOYEE,   SPOUSE   AND  EMPLOYER IN THE FEDERAL
      COURTS       ......................................... 10
V.ANALYSIS  AND PROPOSAL    ................................. 18
      A.  Federal Courts Cannot Use Preemption to Resolve This
          Dilemma ...............................       18
      B.  Proposed Modifications to the Patent Statutes.............20
      C.  Alternative Practical Proposal for Employers ..............23
VI.CONCLUSION                        ........................................26


1


Daniel H. Shulman, Shareholder, Vedder Price P.C., Adjunct Professor of Law, Loyola
University Chicago School of Law, and Angela Upchurch, Professor of Law, Southern Illinois
School of Law. The authors would like to thank Alyssa Alexander, Karl Borgsmiller, Lacey
Boulware, Keegan Nowlin, and Angela Williams-Cox for their research assistance.

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