Good News for US Patents Resulting from Collaborative Research
On December 10, 2004, the Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) bill was signed into law by the US President. With these small but important changes to the US Patent Act, an impediment, unique to the United States' first-to-invent patent system, to patenting technology resulting from joint or collaborative research was removed for those applicants that comply with the requirements of the new law. Although this amendment to US patent law applies essentially to all patents not yet granted by December 10, 2004, patentees still need to exercise special care to ensure that a loss of patent rights does not arise as a result of collaborative research. Briefly, inventors whose patent rights belong to different legal entities who choose to collaborate must have a joint research agreement in place that binds the legal entities before commencement of the collaboration. Whether in the US or any other country, it is also in the best interest of the legal entities involved to establish by contract clear boundaries regarding ownership and exploitation rights of any patents and know-how resulting from the collaborative research.
Intellectual Property Rights and Collaborative Research - by James Anglehart
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