Title 35, PatentsRelease 119-102
§262 Joint Owners
Title 35 › PART III — PATENTS AND PROTECTION OF PATENT RIGHTS › CHAPTER 26 — OWNERSHIP AND ASSIGNMENT › § 262
Summary
Each co-owner may, unless there's another agreement, make, use, sell, offer to sell, or import the invention in the United States without consent or payment to the others.
Full Legal Text
Title 35, §262
Patents, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
In the absence of any agreement to the contrary, each of the joint owners of a patent may make, use, offer to sell, or sell the patented invention within the United States, or import the patented invention into the United States, without the consent of and without accounting to the other owners.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
This section states a condition in existing law not expressed in the existing statutes.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–465 substituted “use, offer to sell, or sell” for “use or sell” and inserted “within the United States, or import the patented invention into the United States,” after “invention”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1994 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 103–465 effective on date that is one year after date on which the WTO Agreement enters into force with respect to the United States [Jan. 1, 1995], with provisions relating to earliest filed patent application, see section 534(a), (b)(3) of Pub. L. 103–465, set out as a note under section 154 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
35 U.S.C. § 262
Title 35, Patents
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102