35 U.S.C. § 293 — Nonresident patentee; service and notice

This section explains what happens when a patent owner does not live in the United States. The owner may file a written statement with the Patent and Trademark Office. That statement names a person living in the United States who can receive legal papers or notice of proceedings about the patent, on the owner's behalf. If that named person cannot be found at the address on file — or if the owner never named anyone — then the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has jurisdiction over the matter. In that case, the court allows the summons to be served by publication (for example, in a newspaper) or by another method the court directs. Once the court has the case this way, it has the same power to decide anything about the patent or the owner's rights under it as it would have if the patentee were personally within the court's jurisdiction.