On the Intellectual Property Rights of Academic Researchers
This paper is a case study of an academic inventor who has tried to defend her patent rights against a major manufacturer of intensive care unit (ICU) ventilators, Hamilton Medical. In late 2019, the patentee started her litigation battle with the manufacturer in a United Kingdom (UK) court that proclaimed to be a low-cost court focused on intellectual property cases. The manufacturer, which has signed hundreds of millions of dollars of contracts in the U.S. and European countries in the past few years due to the COVID pandemic, was marketing its advanced system in Europe but not in the U.S. due to the regulatory problems. Despite this fact, the manufacturer filed an inter partes review of the U.S. counterpart of the UK patent, and the academic inventor had to fight a major legal battle over her patents in two countries simultaneously. This case study highlights the difficulties faced by individual academic researchers who assert their patent rights in a system that is tailored to fit big corporations and wealthy manufacturers.
INTRODUCTION
The patent system is established to promote innovation and thereby provide the essential means for continuous progress and betterment of the society. A patent gives the legal right to the inventors to exclusively make use of their inventions or to give licenses to others to make such use for a limited period of time. It is widely believed that without patent rights, there might not be sufficient incentives for innovations, especially by individual or academic inventors or those affiliated with small businesses. It is also a known fact that many inventions that have resulted in major technological advances have been made by individual inventors. At present, a large number of patent applications are filed by individual inventors, many of them affiliated with academia in the U.S. and other countries. For continued innovation, it is of paramount importance to assure that the legitimate patent rights of inventors are respected and can be practically enforced.
Despite the significance of the innovations by the individuals, academics, and small businesses that foster economic growth and technological progress, a procedure called inter partes review (IPR) was instituted by the America Invents Act (AIA) and became available for use as of September 16, 2012. IPR is a proceeding before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in which a third party can challenge the validity of at least one claim of an issued patent. The procedure is conducted by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).