Under U.S. patent law, an inventor's deliberate abandonment of an invention results in a "statutory bar" to a patent [35 U.S.C. 102(c)]. Abandonment occurs when an inventor does not intend to further pursue an invention. Abandonment of a patent application does not necessarily mean that the inventor(s) intend to abandon the invention itself, but delay in prosecution of a patent application due to an applicant's negligence can result in abandonment of both the application and the invention. Only the inventor(s) can abandon his/her/their invention; not the assignee and not the attorney.
Law - Invention Was Abandoned