ARE Patent Law Alert: The USPTO Unveils Patents 4 Partnerships in an Effort to Facilitate Connections Between Patent Holders and Potential Licensees in COVID-19-Related Technologies

On May 4, 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a new web-based intellectual property marketplace platform, Patents 4 Partnerships IP Marketplace Platform (https://developer.uspto.gov/ipmarketplace/), which was created to provide a repository of patents and published patent applications related to the COVID-19 pandemic that are indicated as available for licensing.

The platform “provides a centralized and easily accessible place to list U.S. patents and patent application publications” and “offers to potential licensees a database of available technologies that permits searches using a variety of parameters.” For now, the IP Marketplace Platform is focused on helping to bring new products and technologies for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of COVID-19 to the marketplace (“for example, personal protective equipment, disinfectants, ventilators, testing equipment and components thereof”), but may expand to include other technologies in the future.

The content included on Patents 4 Partnership has been drawn from a variety of public sources, including:

· The USPTO;

· The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer;

· The AUTM Innovation Marketplace;

· Universities; and

· Federal agencies (including: the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs).

Director of the USPTO, Andrei Iancu, highlighted the potential benefits of the forum during the global pandemic: “Patents for Partnerships is a meeting place that enables patent owners who want to license their IP rights to connect with the individuals and businesses who can turn those rights into solutions for our health and wellbeing. …With an initial focus on COVID-19, the platform shows how innovation can contribute to the nation’s response to this critical health emergency.”

We will continue to monitor the situation. For more information, please feel free to contact us.

*Charles R. Macedo, Douglas A. Miro and Benjamin M. Halpern are partners, and Chandler Sturm is a law clerk at Amster, Rothstein & Ebenstein LLP. Their practice involves all aspects of intellectual property law, including trademark, patent and copyright litigation. They may be reached at cmacedo@arelaw.com, dmiro@arelaw.com, bhalpern@arelaw.com, and csturm@arelaw.com.