Background
The Nesarikars filed a patent application and certified micro-entity status to receive fee discounts. The Patent Office denied this status, citing more than four prior applications where the Nesarikars were named inventors. The Nesarikars claimed an exception for applications they were obligated to assign due to prior employment but provided no evidence of such obligations. The application was abandoned, and the Nesarikars sued, alleging arbitrary agency action. The district court dismissed the case for lack of standing.
The court’s reasoning
The court found that the Nesarikars failed to demonstrate they retained an ownership interest in the abandoned application. Their own representations that they were obligated to assign the application, without providing evidence of such obligations or current ownership, meant they lacked the concrete injury required for Article III standing.
What it means going forward
Patent applicants must provide documentary evidence of employment-related assignment obligations to claim micro-entity status exceptions; mere assertions are insufficient to establish standing if the application is abandoned.