When you find your ideal patent attorney, you’ll want to formally appoint them to represent you in your patent matters. The attorney will typically provide you with several documents, one of which is the Power of Attorney (POA). Before you sign the POA, you may want to know what it is and why it is important.
What is a Power of Attorney (POA)?
A Power of Attorney in the patent context is a legal document that grants your attorney the authority to act on your behalf in all your patent matters during patent prosecution in the USPTO. This includes submitting filings, communicating with the USPTO, responding to Office Actions, and handling procedural steps needed to advance your application. The POA must be signed by the applicant or assignee and is filed with the USPTO to formally recognize your attorney as your representative.
Types of POA
There are two main types of Power of Attorney (POA) in patent matters: General POA and Specific POA. They differ primarily in the scope of representation they grant.
A General POA provides broad authority to a patent attorney or law firm, allowing them to act on behalf of the applicant across multiple patent applications before USPTO. A General POA enables every attorney affiliated with a Customer Number to handle filings, communications, and other actions for all applications linked to the POA. This type of POA minimizes the number of formal documents that need to signed by corporate representatives. Only a single General POA needs to be executed by a representative of assignee.
A Specific POA, on the other hand, grants authority only for a single patent application. It designates particular representatives to act on an individual application, providing greater control over who can handle a particular case without extending that authority to other patent applications in the portfolio. By using this type of POA, a corporate representative must sign such a document for each patent application.
Choosing between a General POA and a Specific POA depends on the you particular needs: General POA offers efficiency for managing larger portfolios, while specific POA allows more control over individual applications.
Which USPTO Form To Use?
You can use the standard POA forms provided by the USPTO. Assuming your patent application was filed after September 16, 2012 (AIA), your patent attorney may present the following USPTO form(s) for you to sign. Note that the USPTO POA forms are all Specific POAs.
PTO/AIA/82A (Power of Attorney by Applicant)
The PTO/AIA/82A form is used by the applicant (often the inventor(s) or original applicant) to appoint a patent practitioner. It allows the applicant or inventor listed on the application to formally authorize one or more registered patent attorneys or agents to represent them before the USPTO in matters related to the specific patent application.
PTO/AIA/82B (Power of Attorney by Assignee)
The PTO/AIA/82B form is used by an assignee, that is, an entity or person to whom the inventor has transferred ownership rights of the invention. It is required when an assignee, rather than the original applicant, has the authority to appoint a patent practitioner. The assignee must already have ownership rights on record with the USPTO for the application, and the form must be signed by the assignee representative.
PTO/AIA/80 (Power of Attorney to Prosecute Applications Before the USPTO and Revoke All Previous Powers of Attorney)
If a current assignee is not the applicant of record, the assignee needs to appoint new representation and revoking previous powers of attorney on a patent application. The assignee must use the PTO/AIA/80 form, which must be accompanied by a statement pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 3.73(c) (PTO/AIA/96 form). A statement pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 3.73(c) is a declaration that establishes an assignee’s ownership rights when filing documents, such as form PTO/AIA/80. This statement is required to show the USPTO that the assignee has the authority to act on behalf of the application.
PTO/AIA/82C (Power of Attorney by Customer Number)
The PTO/AIA/82C form designates all practitioners linked to a specific Customer Number (instead of listing specific patent attorneys or agents) to represent the applicant in the patent application. This form is ideal for applicants with large portfolios managed by firms or corporations that have multiple practitioners.
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