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Some
basic on Patents
A patent
for an invention is a contract between the inventor or the company
sponsoring the inventor and the state, that allows the inventor
to stop others from commercially benefiting from the invention for
a limited time in a specific country or area.
A patent provides a 20 years' protection against unauthorised use
or copying of the invention, and increases the likelihood of commercial
investment in technology.
An
invention to be patented has to meet three basic requirements:
- Novelty:
the invention cannot be patented if it is already known to the
public
- Inventiveness:
the invention cannot be obvious
- Industrial
applicability: the invention needs to have a potential market
What
is patentable?
- Biological
material like: viruses, microorganisms, proteins, DNA sequences
whose function is known, etc
- Transgenic
animals with specific genetic features that can be used to produce
new drugs to treat for example, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis
etc
- Transgenic
plants with improved qualities that affect their nutritional properties
or their resistance to insects and diseases
- Plants
and animal varieties are not patentable because they are the result
of biological (natural) methods of production
There
are certain things that are deemed to be unpatentable
- A
discovery, scientific theory or mathematical method
- A
literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work or any aesthetic
work whatsoever
- A
scheme, rule or method for performing a mental act, playing a
game or doing a business, or a program for a computer (software)
- The
presentation of information
- Methods
for surgical or therapeutic treatment of the human and animal
body
- Diagnostic
methods applicable to humans and animals
Protecting
your ability to get a patent
Remember
- Any
written or oral "prior disclosure" to any member of
the general public (those outside the San Raffaele Biomedical
Science Park community), can invalidate a patent
Before
you disclose any new aspects of your work
- Think
about possible commercial developments
- Contact
us if you think your work has potential commercial interest
- A
patent application can be filed very quickly when necessary, and
can significantly enhance the chances that a technology will be
developed and generate further research funds for you
- It
is hardly ever necessary to delay a publication/ talk/research
poster in order to protect the technology it describes with a
patent
- If
an inadvertent disclosure is made, patent protection in the US
is still possible if filing is made within 12 months
Patent
process
It
is not always straightforward to judge whether an invention is patentable,
so scientists should contact us as early as possible by filing a
Report
of Invention Form to the Office of Biotechnology Transfer
(OBT). The OBT will give a first evaluation on the patentability
of the invention in terms of contents, prior art and potential market,
then a Grant and Intellectual Property Committee composed of the
scientific board and internal and external consultants will take
the final decision on whether to file a patent.
If a decision is made not to file a patent then the San Raffaele
Foundation will reassign the rights on the intellectual property
to the inventor.
Do you have a new invention that you want to report to Science Park
Raf?
Then
fill in the Report of Invention Form
Technology
Development and Licensing
Science
Park Raf is pro-active in identifying research with commercial potential
and in marketing new technologies to industry. For this purpose
it is very important to protect our Intellectual Property with Transfer
Agreements (Material
Transfer Agreement, MTA and Animal
Transfer Agreement, ATA) whenever there is a transfer of
technology or biological material to third parties.
MTAs
are contracts which rule the transfer of material that is not commercially
available from the owner or licenser towards an external institution
for research purposes only.
MTAs define questions regarding the property of the material transferred
and of the modifications and developments done on it by the receiver,
the secrecy on the material's feature and the rights on inventions
and results developed from those materials.
Everytime a scientist working at San Raffaele needs to transfer
material to another institution profit or non-profit or to obtain
material from another institution a MTA agreement needs to be signed
before any material is transferred.
One
of the Science Park Raf principal activities is the negotiation
of licenses for technologies developed within the San Raffaele Biomedical
Science Park.
A license agreement is required when a company wants to acquire
the right to use or commercialise either an unpatented material
or a patented one or a patent pending invention developed in the
San Raffaele Biomedical Science Park. A license is a legal agreement
by which the owner of the intellectual property grants the licensee
the right to use and commercialise eventually after further development
the invention. The agreement defines also the commercial value of
the licensed material and eventual rights of the licenser on the
revenues derived from the commercialisation of the product. Science
Park Raf plays an important role in assessing a value to the property
and in the negotiation of the best ways to support San Raffaele
research in order to develop product of use and value for the community.
If
you are a company seeking to license an invention these patents
are available for licensing:
1.
Modified cytokines for therapeutic use
Application PCT/EP97/00704
Priority 27.02.96
Inventors Corti A et al
2.
Method for the production of activated marker tumor-specific T-cells
and use thereof in treatment of tumors
Application WO97/37004
Priority 30.03.96
Inventors Dellabona P,
Casorati G
3.
uPA-R mimicking peptide
Application WO98/42733
Priority 20.03.97
Inventors Blasi F et al
4.
Method for nucleic acid detection by Real Time PCR
Application PCT/EP99/08847
Priority 17.11.98
Inventors Malnati M, Lusso P et al
5.
MAGE-3 derived immunogenic peptides presented by MHC of Class II
and the use thereof
Application PCT/EPO0/ 01458
Priority 26.02.99
Inventors Protti P, Dellabona P
6.
RANTES peptides with anti-HIV activity
Application WO 00/27880
Priority 11.11.1998
Inventors Lusso P, Pavone V
7.
Anti-HIV action of pro-Urokinase, identification of the transmembrane
mediator of pro-urokinase and urokinase receptor in chemotaxis,
a method to identify and quantify specific activated fragments of
u-PAR
Application PCT/EP02/00603
Priority 25.01.2001
Inventors Blasi F et al
8.
CCR5 specific human recombinant monoclonal antibodies down modulate
surface CCR5 and protect from HIV-1 infection
Application US 805,375
Priority 14.03.2001
Inventors Lopalco L
9.
Human CD25+, CD4+ T cells with regulatory/suppressive activity
Application US 60/294,030
Priority 30.05.2001
Inventors Roncarolo MG,
Levings M
10.
Agents that protects vessels from vascular leakage
Application MI2001A001833
Priority 30.08.2001
Inventors Corti A, Ferrero E
11.
Method and compositions for the activation of dendritic cells
Application MI2001A001986
Priority 25.09.2001
Inventors Bianchi M, Manfredi A
Links
of Tech Transfer Interest
Assn.
of University Technology Managers
Global
technoscan
PharmaLicensing
TechEx
Links
for Patents Searches
Delphion
Intellectual Property Network
DialogWeb
European
Patent Office (EPO)
PIPERS Virtual
Intellectual Property Library
USPTO Web
Patent Databases
Links
for Intellectual Property
IP Links
World Intellectual
Property Organization
Biotechnology
Related Links
4Biotech.com
Bio
BioMedNet
BioSpace
Genetic Engineering
News
Institute for
Biotechnology Information
Venture
Capital Links
A.I.F.I.
Bioportfolio
Recombinant Capital
SIFT
Network - Professional Venture Capital Sources
The Venture
Capital Journal
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