USPTO Launches Free Tool to Help Identify and Protect Intellectual Property for Life Science Companies
By Alex Keown
February 16, 2023
Intellectual property is the lifeblood of biopharmaceutical and medtech companies, and protecting that information is critically important. You may have questions, however, as to what constitutes intellectual property. If that’s the case, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has created a tool to help.
The USPTO launched the IP Identifier website to address common questions about intellectual property. On the website’s landing page, the USPTO asks potential business leaders a series of prompting questions to help them understand not only what IP is but what assets they may have that should be protected.
Susan McBee, a partner in the Frederick, Maryland-based law firm of McBee Moore & Vanik IP. LLC, said the USPTO tool is available for free and can be used by an individual or start-up business. The tool will allow users to identify which of their creative ideas might comprise intellectual property assets as well as how best to protect such creative ideas.
“There are various categories of intellectual property, and someone starting a new venture may not be sure whether they should pursue patent protection, a trademark, a copyright, and/or a trade secret,” McBee said in an email statement.
According to the USPTO website, those who might benefit from using the IP Identifier include people who have recently started a business or thinking about starting one; people who are inventors, artists, or designers; or people who sell goods online or in a store or provide a service to others.
“Do you know what types of IP you might have? Do you know how to protect them?”
Those are the first two questions asked and users can click a “yes” or “no” response. If the answer is “no,” the site will provide users with six questions to help identify possible IP assets. Questions include whether or not you invented a tool, medicine or machine, or if you developed a new process for making one of those. Other questions ask whether or not computer hardware of software was created, or if the potential IP is related to artistic or literary works.
Once that questionnaire is completed, the website assesses the responses and provides suggestions as to what type of IP may be had, such as something covered by a copyright or patent or something that is a trade secret. The site then prompts a continuation with its Advanced IP Identifier, which is where users are directly sent if they initially answer “yes” to the original question about IP.
The Advanced IP Identifier will send users through another round of questions. First though, the website will request information about the various types of IP that could be involved, such as copyright, design patent, trademark or trade secret, something particularly important to life sciences companies.
As an example, if trade secret is selected, the website will prompt users to think about a wide variety of trade secret types, such as business and manufacturing process, research techniques, formulas, marketing techniques and more. The answers to those questions will provide the intuitive site with additional information that will guide users on their journey and provide detailed resources tailored to specific IP circumstances.
Last year, David Vanik, a partner at MMVIP, said protecting IP is akin to making sure “your house is in order.” And that means establishing protections for your IP, something MMVIP, a firm specializing in patent law and intellectual property for the life sciences community, does on a daily basis. Vanik told BioBuzz that if something is of commercial interest, there will be those “parties that test your IP.” He suggested companies should implement multiple levels of IP protection.
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Alex Keown is a freelance journalist who writes about a variety of subjects including the pharma, biotech, and life science industries. Prior to freelancing, Alex has served as a staff writer and editor for several publications.
