HIP, INC. v. Hormel Foods Corporation
The high bar for alleging a joint inventor of an issued patent includes a three-part test of whether a person (1) contributed in some significant manner to the conception of the invention; (2) made a contribution to the claimed invention that is not insignificant in quality, when that contribution is measured against the dimension of the full invention; and (3) did more than merely explain to the real inventors well-known concepts and/or the current state of the art.