Patents, Protections, and Partnerships: Navigating Contemporary IP Concerns
Dec. 10, 2024—Global patenting activity is reaching new heights. Even after years of economic challenges, the World Intellectual Property Organization reported 2023 as the fourth consecutive year of growth for patent filings, surpassing 3.5 million for the first time. Considering the economic slowdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, this statistic is all the more remarkable. Yet, challenges surrounding patents and intellectual property (IP) persist, particularly in the university-industry partnership space. As new technologies emerge, questions about what qualifies as patentable or protectable have increased. Given that innovation and technology advances will always outpace updates to IP and patent regulations, this trend is unlikely to go away. From the guidelines governing IP and patents in the United States to worldwide standards, understanding the rules and the complexities accompanying new discoveries is vital for sustaining the health of university-industry partnerships.
Global protections
Patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets are all types of IP. A patent gives the inventor the right to exclude others from recreating, emulating, or selling an invention. The plain text of the U.S. Patent Act offers the generally accepted description of a patentable invention as “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any useful improvement thereof.” For a patent to be issued, it must be eligible for patent protection and meet four conditions: utility, novelty, non-obviousness, and include a description of how to use or make the invention.
The World Trade Organization’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on IP. The 1995 TRIPS set minimum standards for protecting IP, such as the 20-year patent term and patent eligibility. The TRIPS Agreement ensures that IP guidelines are standardized worldwide, offering similar protections across the organization’s 166 member countries. Similarly, the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) facilitates international patent filings. It allows researchers to file one patent application that can be pursued in any of the 158 PCT-ratifying countries, simplifying the process of protecting IP around the globe.
Contemporary challenges
Even with these global agreements, there is still room for interpretation and variation in IP law. In the United States, vast arrays of information can be patented, including certain business methods, but others cannot, such as inventions on nuclear material or atomic energy in atomic weapons. Lawsuits have been raised to the U.S. Supreme Court to navigate what is and isn’t patentable under U.S. law. For example, Alice Corporation vs. CLS Bank International ruled that an abstract principle that is simply implemented by a computer is not patent-eligible. Likewise, governments are continually considering and implementing IP legislation, like the EU’s Biotech Directive, which limits IP protections related to biotechnology and genetic engineering.
Although most university-industry collaborative research does not produce patentable results, IP can still be a concern. It’s crucial to understand how to protect true innovations without impeding their discovery. Maintaining awareness of national and international law regarding patentability and IP guidelines is the first step.
Ensuring IP is accounted for before embarking on a sponsored research project can help avoid potential conflicts. For new technology areas like biotech and AI, we can expect existing legislation and case law to continue evolving. Staying apprised of these changes is important to keep research moving forward and partnerships on a positive path.
Why it matters
IP will always be one of the most challenging areas in the research landscape. Even with global patenting standards, technological advances will continue to challenge the definition of what is and isn’t protectable. It’s critical to maintain awareness of current standards and changes on the horizon. Maintaining clear and open communication with partners about IP concerns is essential to strong partnerships. For more on the role of IP, see the UIDP Perspectives piece, “IP in U-I Relationships,” and UIDP’s Contract Accords.
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