Innovation and Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
The World Intellectual Property Organization, a branch of the United
Nations, has stated that intellectual property rights include
rights relating to
- literary, artistic, and scientific work
- performance of playing artists, phonograms, and broadcasts
- inventions in all fields of human endeavor
- scientific discoveries
- industrial design
- trademarks, service marks, and commercial names and designations, and
- protection against unfair competition.
In relation to engineering activities and products, intellectual
property relates to protection in the form of patents, trademarks,
trade secrets, and copyrights.
Patents should be the principal focus of the intellectual
property produced by the VA laboratories. (Currently, only 2.4% of all
patent applications in the U.S. are government owned!) There are two very
simple questions to ask in determining whether something is patentable:
- Is there commercial value?
- Is it new in any substantive way?
It is important to realize that a process can be a new use and
therefore can be patented. Moreover, you do not have to wait for the
invention to be reduced to practice - you can file for a patent before
the invention is completed.
What can't be patented? You cannot patent the use of laws of nature,
physical phenomena, abstract ideas, mathematical laws, or plants in the
wild, though man-made biological innovations can be patented. (See 35 USC,
Section 102 for specifics on eligibility for patent.) Also, you cannot
apply for a U.S. patent on a product or process that has been "publicly
disclosed" for more than one year. Any disclosure
precludes foreign patent application.
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Investigator |
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Transfer Officer |
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Center Director |
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