What happens to a practitioner's power of attorney if one of the inventors dies?

When an inventor who has granted a power of attorney to a practitioner dies, the power of attorney remains intact for the purposes of prosecuting the patent application. This is because the authority granted to the practitioner was established by the inventors at the time the power of attorney was executed, and it is not automatically revoked by the death of one inventor.

The relevant regulations under the patent laws recognize that the surviving inventors still hold rights in the application and can continue to prosecute it with the existing power of attorney. They do not need to re-establish or create a new power of attorney if there are other inventors still alive who can represent their interests. This ensures that the patent application can continue to proceed without interruption, as long as there are other inventors remaining.

In scenarios involving multiple inventors, the death of one inventor does not impact the ability of the other active inventors to maintain their relationship with the practitioner, nor does it obstruct the progress of the patent application as long as the remaining inventors still wish to pursue it.