Castro & Pal

 In order for such an application to be accepted, the applicant must constitute the invention´s rightful owner; either because, in fact, the applicant is the inventor, the applicant indicate such condition in the PCT request or due to the existance of an assignment of rights between inventor and applicant.

Anyhow, the PTMO has been clear and consistent about requiring such a document so as to justify the applicant´s right to file the applicantion at hand; as provided by regulations 4.17 (ii), 51 bis 1 (a) (ii), 51 bis 2 (ii) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty, and in accordance with Article 6 paragraph 3 of the Costa Rican Patent Law.

Hence, a duly legalized (and translated into Spanish) asssigment of rights document between the inventor and the applicant, on which all rights related to the invention are transfered to the latter, is now an imperative, in the event that the inventor and applicant are not the same person or entity or in the case that the declaration of entitlement of the PCT request is not stated.

If this assigment is not acredited by the PTMO two months after the filing of the PCT application, the patent application in question may be withdrawn, and considered abandoned.