Patent court defers on divorce case

Weres v. Weres (Fed. Cir. 2005) (Unpublished)

In what appears to be its first divorce proceeding, the Federal Circuit has affirmed that a state court has power to affect the incidents of patent ownership after having divided the ownership interest.  The court went on to find that California courts provided the proper venue for determining the parties' rights and obligations (such as paying maintenance fees).

Further, the Court affirmed that the divorce decree did not create subject matter jurisdiction for the case under the Patent Act.