Recording Assignments

This collection of information is required by 35 U.S.C. §§ 261 and 262 for patents and 15 U.S.C. §§ 1057 and 1060 for trademarks. These statutes authorize the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to record patent and trademark assignment documents, including transfers of properties (i.e., patents and trademarks), liens, licenses, assignments of interest, security interests, mergers, and explanations of transactions or other documents that record the transfer of ownership of a particular patent or trademark property from one party to another. Assignments are recorded for applications, patents, and trademark registrations. In accordance with 37 CFR 3.54, the recording of an assignment document by the USPTO is an administrative action and not a determination of the validity of the document or of the effect that the document has on the title to an application, patent, or trademark. In order to record an assignment document, the respondent must submit an appropriate form along with copies of the assignment document to be recorded. Once the assignment documents are recorded, they are available for public inspection. The public uses these records to conduct ownership and chain-of-title searches. The only exceptions are those documents that are sealed under secrecy orders according to 37 CFR 3.58 or related to unpublished patent applications maintained in confidence under 35 U.S.C. § 122 and 37 CFR 1.14.

The latest form for Recording Assignments expires 2027-11-30 and can be found here.

Patent Assignments

Federal Enterprise Architecture: Economic Development - Intellectual Property Protection

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