Patent law has rules that govern who may actually apply for a patent. According to it, only the inventor of the creation is allowed to apply to patent it. This however is not stringent as there are a number of exceptions to it. Nevertheless, if one is to apply for a patent and it is later discovered that they are not the inventors of the product, the patent will be revoked.
In addition to this, any individual who falsely claims to have invented something and went ahead to patent it, is liable to face legal action as explained in https://www.macobserver.com/why-turn-to-inventhelp-with-your-tech-invention-idea/ article. Here are the numbers of exceptions that can be considered when it comes to who may apply for a patent.
There are several situations that may make it impossible for the inventor of the product to apply for a patent. For one, the inventor could have died before patenting their creation. In this case, the application for a patent can be made by some legal representatives of the deceased inventor.
These legal representatives include the administrator or the executor of the deceased estate. Another scenario that may make it impossible for the inventor to apply for a patent would be if the said inventor has gone insane. In this instance, the legal guardian of the inventor can go forward and submit an application for a patent.
Lastly, the inventor of the product may decide that they do not want to apply for a patent. There can also be a situation where the inventor may go missing and an application for a patent has not been submitted. In these instances, a joint inventor of the product can go ahead with the application process.
If there is no joint inventor, then an individual who has a proprietary interest in the product and can prove as much can go ahead with the patent application process.
In most instances, inventions tend to be a joint effort by two or more people. In these cases, it would not be fair to allow only one individual to apply for the patent of the product. Patent law allows for joint investors to all take part in the patent application process. You can find more details about it from https://azbigmedia.com/business/why-new-inventors-turn-to-inventhelp-for-support/.
However, someone who is providing financial assistance to aid in the creation of the invention is not considered to be a joint investor. The joint investors should all have had a hand in coming up with the concept of the invention as well as bringing it to fruition.