Patent and Co-ownership: A Complicated Relationship

On February 18, 2025, Judgment No. 4131 issued by the First Civil Division of the Court of Cassation was published. The Court returned to the topic of co-owned patents, and particularly the applicability of the rules on co-ownership in such cases. The decision in question raised a legal issue of such significance as to justify a public hearing: in the case of patent co-ownership, may the invention be freely exploited by each co-owner, or, conversely, is the consent of the other always required?