intellectual property

Life sciences advocates in Arizona are celebrating the passage of HB 2272, a measure to tighten open records laws that require details of intellectual property be disclosed. Passage of the legislation will protect against the loss of current research contracts or the possibility of missed opportunities due to concerns over the state's previous law, according to a statement by the Arizona Bioscience Industry Association (AZBio).

Ownership of intellectual property (IP) rights has become central to the strategies of innovating firms worldwide, according to The Changing Face of Innovation, a new report from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Researchers contend that rapidly growing global investments in innovation and the globalization of economic activities are key drivers of this trend. Between 1980 and 2009, global patents rose from 800,000 applications to 1.8 million.

Innovative companies involved in commercializing research with universities and federal agencies often cite complicated contracts and uncertainty surrounding the process as a barrier to bringing more technologies to the marketplace. In an effort to remove some of those hurdles, two new initiatives recently were announced from the University of Minnesota (UM) and the Department of Energy (DOE).

The European Union (EU) released its first competitiveness report on all 27 EU member nations and six associated countries — Innovation Union Competitiveness Report 2011. Providing a deeper perspective on European R&D intensity, the report is intended to monitor the progress towards EU and national R&D headline targets and provide economic evidence and analysis to underpin the development of EU and national innovation policies. Twelve key findings are highlighted within the report including:

In Technology Transfer in Southeast Wisconsin, a new report from the Public Policy Forum, researchers call for a "full-fledged collaborative infrastructure" that is adept at transferring technologies developed at the region's research institutions to entrepreneurs that will use them to create businesses and jobs in the region.

The Obama administration recently announced two directives to accelerate the commercialization of research and provide small businesses with streamlined access to federal resources. In his announcement, President Obama tied the directives to his administration's recent jobs push, and noted the need to bypass Congress in order to quickly implement the changes.

This week, the U.S. Senate passed the Leahy-Smith America Invest Act, representing a major overhaul of the U.S. patent system. The legislation would make a number of changes to the current patent regime, including the shift to a "first-to-file" system. Under this system, the right to a patent would be granted to the first party to file a patent application for the protection of their invention. In addition, the legislation would adjust the fee structure for the evaluation process and create a new fee category for low-income applicants.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the largest overhaul of U.S. patent law in 60 years. Under the new legislation, patent decisions would favor inventors who file for patents first, rather the the current "first-to-invent" system. The change would bring U.S. patent law more in line with the patent systems of Europe and Japan. A similar bill was passed by the Senate in March, which will be reconciled with the House bill in the near future.

A recent report from the Intellectual Property Association revealed the top 300 organizations granted U.S. patents in 2010. IBM, Samsung and Microsoft led this year's list. Fourteen universities, including 13 U.S. institutions and one from China, made the top 300, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Leading universities include the University of California Regents, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

The number of annual U.S. patents of all types increased from 82,586 in 2005 to 121,179 in 2010, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). After falling in 2007 and 2008, and making only minor gains in 2009, patents jumped by 27.5 percent last year. Overall, the number of patents grew 46.7 percent between 2005 and 2010, while patents per capita increased by 40.6 percent. California continues to have the highest number of annual patents in the country, generating about one quarter of all U.S. patents in 2010.