Typing names in name fields

Here is how to enter names in the Assignee, Sole Assignee, Inventor, Sole Inventor, Patent Agent, Patent Examiner, and Assistant Examiner patent fields:

• First name, last name, and middle initial can be entered as follows:

J. P. Smith Smith, Jane

• In the Inventor and Sole Inventor patent fields, enclose the inventor's name in quotation marks ( " " ) to indicate that the name refers only to one inventor. For example, "Harlan James" finds two inventors, one named Harlan James and the other named James Harlan. On the other hand, Harlan James with no quotation marks finds the inventors Harlan Smith, James Smith, John Harlan, Elizabeth Harlan, Mary James, Henry James, etc.
• Use the Sole Inventor field and the Sole Assignee field when you want to find patents that were filed by only one particular assignee or inventor.
• You can specify several names if you separate them by semicolons, as follows:

J. P. Smith; Jack Brown; Black, Kate

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