KENJIRO SUZUKI, Nikkei Asia; Japan's universities fail to make the most of intellectual property
"Due to lack of support, patents earn only 2% compared to U.S. schools"
Issues and developments related to Intellectual Property (e.g. Copyright, Fair Use, Patents, Trademarks, Trade Secrets) and Open Movements (e.g. Open Access, Open Data, Open Educational Resources (OER)), examined in the "Intellectual Property and Open Movements" and "Ethics of Data, Information, and Emerging Technologies" graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. -- Kip Currier, PhD, JD
KENJIRO SUZUKI, Nikkei Asia; Japan's universities fail to make the most of intellectual property
"Due to lack of support, patents earn only 2% compared to U.S. schools"
Mike Yeomans, PittWire; Pitt ranks in top 20 for patents granted to universities worldwide
"The University of Pittsburgh has ranked No. 19 of the Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted Utility Patents in 2023, according to a list published by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).
Released annually by the NAI since 2013, the Top 100 Worldwide Universities List spotlights the universities holding U.S. utility patents to showcase the important research and innovation taking place within academic institutions.
Pitt innovators were issued 114 U.S. patents in calendar year 2023, compared to 105 in 2022."n
Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ; Director's Blog: the latest from USPTO leadership
AI and inventorship guidance: Incentivizing human ingenuity and investment in AI-assisted inventions
"Today, based on the exceptional public feedback we’ve received, we announced our Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions in the Federal Register – the first of these directives. The guidance, which is effective on February 13, 2024, provides instructions to examiners and stakeholders on how to determine whether the human contribution to an innovation is significant enough to qualify for a patent when AI also contributed. The guidance embraces the use of AI in innovation and provides that AI-assisted inventions are not categorically unpatentable. The guidance instructs examiners on how to determine the correct inventor(s) to be named in a patent or patent application for inventions created by humans with the assistance of one or more AI systems. Additionally, we’ve posted specific examples of hypothetical situations and how the guidance would apply to those situations to further assist our examiners and applicants in their understanding."
Jeff Neal, Harvard Law Today; Addressing the epidemic of high drug prices
"The Biden administration is once again targeting high drug prices paid by Americans. This time, officials are focused on prescription medications developed with federal tax dollars. The United States government, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awards billions of dollars of research grants to university scientists each year to fund biomedical research, which is often patented. The universities in turn grant exclusive licenses to companies to produce and sell the resulting drugs to patients in need. But what happens if a drug company fails to make a medication available, or sets its price so high that it is out of reach for a significant percentage of patients?
To tackle this problem, the Biden administration recently released a “proposed framework” that specifies when and how the NIH can “march in” and award the rights to produce a patented drug to a third party if the patent licensee does not make it available to the public on “reasonable terms.” The plan is based on a provision included in the Bayh-Dole Act, a 1980 federal law which was designed to stimulate innovation by encouraging universities to obtain and license patents for inventions resulting from federally funded research.
According to Harvard Law School intellectual property expert Ruth Okediji LL.M. ’91, S.J.D. ’96, although the Biden administration’s proposed framework for using government march-in rights to lower drug costs is an important development, whether it will be successfully implemented and result in meaningful drug price reductions remains to be seen. Harvard Law Today recently spoke to Okediji, the Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law and faculty director of Global Access in Action(GAiA) at the Berkman Klein Center, about the new proposal and the legal challenges it might face."
University Times, University of Pittsburgh; Rory Cooper honored at White House by President Biden
"Rory Cooper, who has been given a slew of awards over the years for his work in rehabilitation sciences, found himself at the White House last week, where President Joe Biden bestowed on him the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement.
Cooper is founding director of Pitt’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories and, since 2021, assistant vice chancellor for research for STEM-health sciences collaborations.
He was among several people Biden presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to on Oct. 24. On Oct. 26, Cooper, who holds nine U.S. patents and has nine more pending, also was inducted into the 50th class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame at a gala in Washington, D.C."
Mandy Wilson Decker, Stites & Harbison; What 70% of Americans Don’t Understand About Intellectual Property
"The United States Intellectual Property Alliance (USIPA) recently published the results of its US Intellectual Property Awareness & Attitudes Survey. Among its findings, the survey results revealed that 70% of Americans are unable to distinguish between mechanisms – patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets – for protecting Intellectual Property (IP).
Given these results, it's worth exploring the principal mechanisms for protecting IP, which each possess some distinctive features."
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); Learn about government resources for protecting your intellectual property
"Join us at our next Patent Pro Bono Program: Pathways to inclusive innovation event on October 11 from 12:30-5:30 p.m. ET, virtually or in person at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.
During this event, leaders in the intellectual property (IP) and small business community will share their stories and tips on how to protect your IP via patents and trademarks. We welcome all current and aspiring entrepreneurs interested in learning more about:
A detailed agenda with speakers is listed on our event page.
Registration is required for in-person and online attendees. Seats for in-person attendance are limited, so register now to secure your spot.
For questions about this event, please contact probono@uspto.gov"
West Virginia Libraries (WVU) ; Introduction to Intellectual Property
"Curious about Trademarks, Copyrights, Patents, & Trade Secrets? Join us for an overview of intellectual property.
Rebecca Robbins and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, The New York Times; How a Drug Maker Profited by Slow-Walking a Promising H.I.V. Therapy
"Gilead, one of the world’s largest drugmakers, appeared to be embracing a well-worn industry tactic: gaming the U.S. patent system to protect lucrative monopolies on best-selling drugs...
Gilead ended up introducing a version of the new treatment in 2015, nearly a decade after it might have become available if the company had not paused development in 2004. Its patents now extend until at least 2031.
The delayed release of the new treatment is now the subject of state and federal lawsuits in which some 26,000 patients who took Gilead’s older H.I.V. drugs claim that the company unnecessarily exposed them to kidney and bone problems."
"Walsh and Alexandra George, a patent law scholar at the University of New South Wales, suggested future-proofing the patent system by sorting AI-generated inventions into a category they named “AI-IP.” Patents under AI-IP would last for less time than traditional patents and possibly give a share to AI model developers or training data owners.
But, especially in a future where AI becomes ubiqutious, any categorization method likely runs against a question, one with no consensus answer: What, if anything, separates a human creation from an AI creation?"
Rachel Weiner , The Washington Post; Colleagues want a 95-year-old judge to retire. She’s suing them instead.
"Newman’s refusal to quit on anyone else’s terms served her early in her career. Three decades after her mother marched for the right to vote, Newman decided she would be a doctor. No medical school accepted her. She went to graduate school at Yale for chemistry instead; no chemical firm would hire her except American Cyanamid. She was the only female research scientist there, and her bosses tried to force her into becoming a librarian until she threatened to walk out.
She would later receive her own patents for colorful, dirt-resistant synthetic fabric she helped invent. But after three years, Newman took her savings and bought a ticket on a boat to Paris, where she supported herself by mixing drinks on the ÃŽle Saint-Louis.
Six months later, “totally destitute,” Newman came back to the United States and found “a job that I knew no respectable scientist would take, and that was writing patent applications,” she told female law students at New York University in 2013. Soon, she was a patent lawyer. The next time she went to Paris, it was as a science policy specialist for the United Nations, again the only woman in her professional association. On her office desk sits a mug from a bar she could not enter during her time at NYU Law — it reads “Good ale, raw onions, and no ladies.”"
Gowling WLG - Matt Hervey , Lexology; 10 things to know about copyright and software
"8. Other people can copy what your software does …
You can enforce your copyright against someone copying your code, not copying what your software does. Copyright protection only applies to "expression" not ideas and principles. Under UK and EU law, if someone has lawful access to your software (e.g. someone you have licensed to use it) they are entitled to study and test the way it functions to figure out (and copy) the ideas and principles underlying the software. In fact, any contractual provision to the contrary is null and void.
9. … so consider patent protection
Unlike copyright, patents grant you a 20-year monopoly over what your software does: you can stop other people doing the same thing and it does not matter whether they copied you or came up with the same idea independently. Getting patents for software is not straightforward and needs specialist advice on what is possible. You may also want to check if other people have patents covering what you want to do. Our Patents team can advise you on any challenges you face in a number of jurisdictions.
10. … and trade secrets
Where patent protection is not possible or desirable, keeping the code and workings of your software secret may be the best option. Restrict access to source code (and AI-related assets such as training data, hyperparameters, models and outputs) with password protection, firewalls, access logs, etc. Use APIs to restrict third-party access to source or compiled code and considering restricting the throughput of access to your API (the performance of AI models can be partially reverse engineered quickly given unrestricted access to inputs and outputs).
Put in place training, policies and contractual terms with employees, contractors and collaborators for the protection, use and potential disclosure of trade secrets. Bake this into you IP strategy and procedures to benefit from the enforcement options for trade secrets and confidential information. Having good procedures helps to protect both your own secrets and third-party secrets entrusted to you … and to stop employees and contractors bringing unwanted third-party secrets into your business."
Brittany Trang, Stat; If AI invents a new medicine, who gets the patent?
"Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are increasingly using artificial intelligence to discover and make drugs and therapeutics. Congress on Wednesday asked the question: Does that mean AI can be an inventor on a patent?"
David W. Leibovitch, The National Law Review; IP Challenges and Risks Unique to AI – Part I
"Patents must also sufficiently describe the invention so as to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to carry out the invention. This is uniquely challenging for AI inventions, due to the “black box” nature of some AI engines. There is potential for near-term evolution in this area of patent law. How can businesses ensure that patent applications filed today will meet future standards? Companies should be aware of these potential shifts and adapt their IP strategies accordingly.
Copyrighting AI-generated content is also topical. Presently, whether AI-generated subject matter is copyrightable may bear on the level of human contribution. Moreover, determining who owns the copyright may depend on contractual provisions (e.g., website terms of service)."
PAUL R. MICHEL AND MATTHEW J. DOWD, The Hill; Patents, spy balloons and outcompeting China: What our leaders are missing
"For all of U.S. history, patents have provided the needed incentives. Without reliable patent protection, few corporate decision-makers or venture capital leaders would make the investments to support the breakthroughs.
And now, more breakthroughs are exactly what America needs to counter China’s accelerating technology surge. Think computer chips, genetic and personalized medicine, clean energy, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies of the 21st century.
But we’re starting to lag behind China, which is devoting untold resources toward becoming the global leader. A recent Harvard Kennedy School report warned that China is set to overtake the United States, if U.S. policy does not change."
Fraiser Kansteiner, Eric Sagonowsky, Zoey Becker, Kevin Dunleavy, Angus Liu, Fierce Pharma; The top 10 drugs losing US exclusivity in 2023
"Across the industry this year, big-selling drugs from Johnson & Johnson, Takeda, AstraZeneca, Roche and other companies are set to face their first generic or biosimilar challengers in the U.S. As always, the patent expirations should create quite a shake-up for many of the industry’s top players."
Nick Williams, Star Tribune; NFTs are creating trademark problems. For these Minnesota lawyers, expertise is a commodity
"For NFT creators, knowing what they can register for trademark or patent protection is not clear-cut, either. That's a significant piece of the NFT-law equation, considering the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has received more than 10,000 trademark applications for NFT-related goods and services over the last few years, said Kathi Vidal, undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, during a recent online panel.
"And we expect that number to grow," she said.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and U.S. Copyright Office are working on a study with input from industry experts to determine how the nation should proceed with NFT laws. The study, a response to a request from the U.S. Senate subcommittee on intellectual property, will help officials determine what policies are to be supported, and what position the U.S. takes on the matter, Vidal said."
WV Mountaineer ENews; Libraries offering Intellectual Property workshop series
"This series of Intellectual Property workshops includes introduction, copyright, trademarks, and patents. While these workshops primarily focus on how to search, the participant will learn different aspects of IP as well as familiarity with websites.
Trademarks: What's In a Name
If you have a new business name or a new product, attend this workshop and learn how to protect your name and avoid counterfeiting someone else’s.
Register for this workshop scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21
Patents: Learning How to Search
Knowing how to search patents is helpful for inventors to see what similar items already exist and it can help in researching older technologies and figuring out how a new technology works. Attend this workshop to learn about how searching patents using classification will assist you.
Register for this workshop scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 7
Copyright and your Thesis or Dissertation
Join us for a workshop specifically about copyright and graduate student work. We will cover copyright issues specific to theses and dissertations, including your rights as a user of others’ work, the permissions you need to gain, and your own rights over your ETD.
Register for the workshop scheduled for 11 a.m. to noon Monday, March 27
Register for the workshop scheduled for 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, April 4
Register for the workshop scheduled for 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, April 12"
Jason Balich, Wolf Greenfield; Patents Expire But Trademarks Can Last Forever
"So, the next time you are looking to protect a good or service, don't just limit yourself to contemplating patent protection. These days, utility patents have a 20-year term from the filing date of the application and design patents have a 15-year term from date of grant. In contrast, trademarks can last forever."
Daniel Piper, Creative Blow; Turns out Sony owns the creepiest TV patent ever
"Patent filings often offer a tantalising glimpse at what weird and wonderful inventions tech brands have up their sleeves. Whether or not they'll ever come to fruition hardly matters – it's just fun to know that Apple is working on teeth-powered AirPods or Sony wants to make controllers with collapsible joy joysticks. But it turns the latter brand has also filed one of the most dystopian patents we've seen.
The 2009 patent, which has recently resurfaced on social media, describes a form of advertising that we hope never, ever becomes the norm. In it, TV viewers are only able to skip an advert by shouting the name of the brand. Yep, crying 'McDonald's!' is the only way to make the Big Mac disappear. (Check out the best Apple patents for some slightly less terrifying ideas.)"