Inventors, patent applicants, and patent assignees should
carefully consider who the actual inventors of their patents are,
or they may risk losing their patent rights altogether.
In 2023, the Federal Court found that the inventor listed on Canadian
Patent No. 2,624,834 (the '834 Patent) had likely learned the
ideas behind the inventive concept of the patent from one of his
subordinates while working at Genesis International Oilfield
Services Inc. After learning of the inventive concept, that
"inventor", John Ewanek, moved to a new company, which
filed the '834 Patent with Ewanek listed as the sole inventor.
The '834 Patent was later purchased by Canadian Energy Services
L.P.
The Federal Court declared that Ewanek's subordinate at
Genesis was the actual inventor of the '834 Patent and that the
successor company to Genesis was therefore the actual owner of the
'834 patent.
