Patent Office Pilot Program To Encourage COVID-19 Related Inventions (Expanded)

Published date19 October 2020
Subject MatterIntellectual Property, Coronavirus (COVID-19), Patent, Operational Impacts and Strategy
Law FirmReinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.
AuthorTimothy P. Naill

On September 17, 2020, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Patent Office) launched a new pilot program in an effort to incentivize inventors to find solutions to COVID-19. Under the new pilot program, filing fees for provisional patent applications may be deferred and, in some cases, need not be paid at all if certain conditions relating to COVID-19 are met. The pilot program is reserved for provisional patent applications filed under 35 U.S.C 111(b). Nonprovisional patent applications or international applications designating the United States are not eligible for participation.

Currently, inventors enjoy the economic advantage provided by the patenting right of exclusion. In exchange for the right of exclusion, the patent application is laid open to the public so that its technical subject matter becomes part of the total available information in the field of the invention. This information sharing permits others to improve upon the invention and even to practice the invention once the patent term expires.

The Patent Office recognizes that COVID-19 requires creative solutions. The intent of its new pilot program is to further incentivize inventors by providing a cost-effective means to disclose their ideas without losing their right to claim what is described and enabled by their disclosure. The Patent Office believes the public may benefit from the efforts of inventors seeking to address the COVID-19 outbreak sooner than would otherwise be possible. The belief is that early public disclosure will facilitate collaborations, partnerships or joint ventures and will speed up the development of important solutions to COVID-19.

How to Qualify

To qualify for the pilot program, the subject matter disclosed in the provisional patent application must concern a product or process related to COVID-19, and the product or process must require Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for COVID-19 use, whether the approval has been obtained, is pending or will be sought prior to marketing the subject matter for COVID-19.

Participants in the pilot program are required to submit a technical disclosure, a provisional application cover sheet and a certification and request form to participate in the pilot program The Patent Office will upload the technical disclosure and the certification and request form into a searchable public collaborative database, and will process the technical disclosure and the cover sheet as a filing of a provisional application. In...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT