If Inventor Dies, Who Holds Patent Rights?

• A. The Patent Office
• B. The Government
• C. The Inventor's Assistants
• D. Inventor's Heirs Or Assigns

Answer: (D)

Patents are a form of property that can be owned, transferred, and inherited. When an inventor dies, the rights to the patent don’t disappear or stay with the government or the Patent Office; they pass to the inventor’s heirs or assigns, just like other property passes through an estate or a contract-based transfer.

If the inventor left a will or if state law governs intestate succession, the patent rights go to the persons or entities named (the heirs or assigns). If there was a prior contract that assigned the rights to an employer or someone else, that assignment generally remains in effect and the assignee would own the rights unless the contract provides otherwise. But in the ordinary scenario without a prior assignment, the heirs or assigns receive the patent rights.

That’s why the correct answer is the inventor’s heirs or assigns.