Title: Patient advocacy group collaboration in genetic research and the scope of joint inventorship under US patent law

Authors: Jordan Paradise

Addresses: University of Minnesota Law School, Walter F. Mondale Hall, Suite N140, 229 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

Abstract: Patent systems have traditionally operated to reward scientific innovation and discovery rather than the level and type of contribution of raw materials and other support. In recently naming a non-scientist patent advocate as a co-inventor on a patent claiming method for diagnosing a disease-causing genetic mutation, the USPTO has recently determined that collaboration with researchers in providing banked genetic samples and participating in the laboratory rises to the level of inventorship. This article examines broad questions of ownership in genetic material, patient advocacy efforts in collaborative research and the traditional distinction in the patent realm between ownership and inventorship.

Keywords: genetics; collaborative research; patent law; United States Patent & Trademark Office; USPTO; co-inventors; patient advocacy; ownership; policy; intellectual property; USA; genetic research; collaboration; inventions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2009.023258

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.2, pp.97 - 109

Published online: 15 Feb 2009 *

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