Technological novelty profile and invention's future impact

We consider inventions as novel combinations of existing technological capabilities. Patent data allow us to explicitly identify such combinatorial processes in invention activities. Unconsidered in the previous research, not every new combination is novel to the same extent. Some combinations are naturally anticipated based on patent activities in the past or mere random choices, and some appear to deviate exceptionally from existing invention pathways. We calculate a relative likelihood that each pair of classification codes is put together at random, and a deviation from the empirical observation so as to assess the overall novelty (or conventionality) that the patent brings forth at each year. An invention is considered as unconventional if a pair of codes therein is unlikely to be used together given the statistics in the past. Temporal evolution of the distribution indicates that the patenting activities become more conventional with occasional cross-over combinations. Our analyses show that patents introducing novelty on top of the conventional units would receive higher citations, and hence have higher impact.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figure

Software Patents on Both Sides of the Atlantic, 23 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 815 (2005)

This comment addresses and analyzes the state of software patentability in the United States (“U.S.”) and European Union (“E.U.”). This comment discusses policies that drive changes and developments in patent law, the technical background of software, and the non-patent intellectual property protection for software. The comment further addresses the judicial precedent and the situation surrounding software patents in the U.S. and the legal situation in the E.U., including proposed changes in the Software Patent Directive. Finally, the article discusses common criticisms of current U.S. policies on software patentability by exposing the problems created by these policies and suggests corrective policies in the future

An Explicit Policy Lever for Patent Scope

Since its inception in 1982, the Federal Circuit has declined to take an overt role in setting patent policy. Dan Burk and Mark Lemley have observed that the court instead implicitly engineers patent policy through selective application of its patentability rules, which operate as policy levers. Recent decisions on the patentability of diagnostic and therapeutic methods illustrate a significant problem with this approach. By maintaining a façade of adjudicative rule formalism while tacitly manipulating its rules to approximate policy goals, the court perpetuates empirical uncertainty about the patent law\u27s practical effects. This Article proposes that the Federal Circuit use the patentable subject matter doctrine as an explicit policy lever for calibrating patent scope. By prompting litigants to directly address factual questions underlying patent disputes, expressly pragmatic adjudication may serve an information-eliciting function and shed light on longstanding theoretical debates. The Delaware Chancery Court\u27s adjudication of corporate law should serve as a model for the Federal Circuit\u27s adjudication of patent law. This Article identifies queries specifically pertinent to recent and ongoing cases involving medical methods and suggests that the Federal Circuit raise similar empirical questions with respect to software patents, business method patents, and other inventions whose patentability is contested

A facile review concerning the Protection of an Invention in Nigeria: Issues and Challenges

Technological and any form of invention is a prerequisite for National development. This is concerning the fact that the reason why countries like the USA, China, Russia, and a host of other countries are regarded as developed nations is a result of their scientist and technician inventions. However, Nigeria like several African countries is regarded as a developing country given its slow pace of invention. However, despite the slow pace of invention, the legal process of also obtaining a protection or patent over an invention seems to also pose a challenge to scientists and technicians within the Nigerian terrain. It is concerning that embarks on a hybrid method of research in examining the issues and challenges as they relate to the protection of an invention in Nigeria. In this regard, 253 questionnaires were distributed to the respondent resident in the various geo-political zone in Nigeria. A descriptive and analytical method was employed in analyzing the data, and the study found that there are but few scientists and technicians involved in the technological invention. But there are challenges concerning obtaining a patent or protection of an invention in Nigeria and this in essence often discourage scientist and technician to intensify their effort toward technological invention. It was therefore concluded and recommended that for an effective and improved technological invention in Nigeria, there is a need for the Nigerian government to create an enabling environment and review the current legal framework concerning the obtaining of a patent over an invention.

Protecting Their Intellectual Assets: Appropriability Conditions and Why U.S. Manufacturing Firms Patent (or Not)

Based on a survey questionnaire administered to 1478 R&D labs in the U.S. manufacturing sector in 1994, we find that firms typically protect the profits due to invention with a range of mechanisms, including patents, secrecy, lead time advantages and the use of complementary marketing and manufacturing capabilities. Of these mechanisms, however, patents tend to be the least emphasized by firms in the majority of manufacturing industries, and secrecy and lead time tend to be emphasized most heavily. A comparison of our results with the earlier survey findings of Levin et al. [1987] suggest that patents may be relied upon somewhat more heavily by larger firms now than in the early 1980s. For the protection of product innovations, secrecy now appears to be much more heavily employed across most industries than previously. Our results on the motives to patent indicate that firms patent for reasons that often extend beyond directly profiting from a patented innovation through either its commercialization or licensing. In addition to the prevention of copying, the most prominent motives for patenting include the prevention of rivals from patenting related inventions (i.e., patent blocking'), the use of patents in negotiations and the prevention of suits. We find that firms commonly patent for different reasons in discrete' product industries, such as chemicals, versus complex' product industries, such as telecommunications equipment or semiconductors. In the former, firms appear to use their patents commonly to block the development of substitutes by rivals, and in the latter, firms are much more likely to use patents to force rivals into negotiations.

A REVIEW ON ADVANCES IN PHARMACEUTICAL CO-CRYSTAL PREPARATION ROUTES, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PERSPECTIVE AND REGULATORY ASPECTS

As in recent years, due to the pervasiveness of poorly soluble APIs that demonstrates poor and erratic bioavailability, pharmaceutical cocrystal’s applicability to tailor the physicochemical properties has gained attention. Pharmaceutical cocrystal has been an exciting field of interest to researchers as this encouraged several regulatory bodies to create regulatory standards, which led to the approval of these crystals for marketing in various nations. With the upsurge in the growth of pharmaceutical cocrystals, the major concern is over the intellectual property perspective and regulatory status of cocrystals. With the new guidelines from the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA), the manufacturing and characterization of cocrystal have become less complicated. In this article, various preparation routes are mentioned along with this intellectual property perspective and regulatory perspective, including regulatory guidelines, which give an idea of whether cocrystals meet the criteria for patent eligibility and how they would change the current state of the pharmaceutical industry. Here, we also reviewed some recently approved patients on pharmaceutical crystals, which provided benefits over poor physicochemical property of drug substances and also enhanced the therapeutic effectiveness of that drugs