Inheriting or transferring a US patent after a death?

When the owner of a US patent passes away, ownership doesn't simply disappear with them — it passes to their heirs, and formally recording that transfer with the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) requires a specific set of documents, translated and certified if the underlying paperwork is in Korean.

Documents the USPTO typically requires

• Death certificate — official proof of the patent owner's death
• Affidavit of heirship (or declaration of succession) — identifies the heirs and establishes their inheritance right to the patent, usually prepared with the help of an attorney
• Assignment document — needed if the heir goes on to transfer the patent to another individual or entity, whether immediately or after first registering ownership in their own name

Why certified translation matters here

If these documents were originally issued in Korean, the USPTO requires an English translation before it will act on the ownership change — and for a document like a death certificate, translation accuracy carries real legal weight, not just administrative formality.

How this office handles it

1. Certified translation of the death certificate (and any other Korean-language supporting document) to the standard the USPTO expects.
2. A 번역확인증명서 (translation verification certificate) issued alongside the translation, confirming it matches the original — this is what gives the USPTO examiner confidence in the submitted translation during review.
3. Coordination with US patent firms as the applicant's point of contact, alongside the foreign IP filing coordination service, for the assignment/transfer filing itself.

Related documents this often comes with

Depending on the estate and the number of assignees, this can extend to translating additional supporting documents the attorney handling the affidavit of heirship requests — coordinated as one filing rather than piecemeal.