University of Colorado Foundation, Inc. v. American Cyanamid Co.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
196 F.3d 1366 (1999)

- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
American Cyanamid Co. (Cyanamid) (defendant) owned a company that produced and sold a prenatal vitamin. One of Cyanamid’s chemists hired two medical researchers from the University of Colorado Health Services Center to help reformulate the vitamin. Cyanamid obtained a patent for the reformulation, listing Cyanamid’s chemist as the sole inventor. The University of Colorado Foundation, Inc. (the university) (plaintiff) sued Cyanamid on behalf of the University of Colorado and its researchers, claiming that they were the true inventors of the patent. After a bench trial in which the court applied state common law pertaining to inventorship standards, the lower court found that the university’s researchers invented the vitamin reformulation and that Cyanamid’s chemist was not the inventor. Cyanamid appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rader, J.)
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