The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Launches a New Patent Platform

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), has quite recently launched a brand new web-based Intellectual Property (IP) marketplace platform known as ‘Patents 4 Partnerships’. The platform efficiently offers a user-friendly searchable repository of patents along with the published Patent Applications concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, which are indicated as available for licensing purposes.

The new platform will effectively facilitate the commercialization of innovations and voluntary licensing in a plethora of prime technologies, and further help significantly in disseminating valuable and relevant patent information.

In his proclamation on the occasion of this year’s World IP Day (celebrated on 26th April every year), President Donald J. Trump stated that the utmost importance of IP has never been more apparent before than it is now as the entire world is fighting the ongoing battle against the Coronavirus outbreak. The new patent platform ‘Patents 4 Partnerships’ may contribute towards the COVID-19 pandemic by bringing in novel products and technologies to the marketplace for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the deadly virus. Moreover, in the coming future, the platform may expand to cover other technologies as well.

Andrei Iancu, currently serving as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, has said that ‘Patents 4 Partnerships’ is like a meeting place, which allows the patent owners, who are looking forward to licensing their Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), to connect well with the business owners and individuals, who, in turn, can turn their IP rights into fruitful solutions for the health and wellbeing of people. He further said that while focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic initially, the platform shows how innovation and creativity can contribute efficiently to the United States’ response in dealing with the ongoing critical health emergency.

The platform enables the users to search for relevant information and further sort the same in a variety of convenient ways; for instance, based on the keyword, inventor name, issue date, and assignee. At present, its content is drawn from multiple public sources, such as the USPTO, the AUTM Innovation Marketplace (AIM), the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC Business), universities and several federal agencies, like the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, to name a few.

Users can send their comments and feedback by using the link given on the main page of the new platform. Additionally, the IP owners can submit their valuable creations and unique technologies, which, according to them, can prove to be exceedingly beneficial in the COVID-19 crisis.