Question

ACME Pharmaceutical Inc. has heard all the allegations about the trauma suffered by people as a result of receiving needles for vaccinations. They have decided to develop a new method for giving vaccines orally rather than by needle. ACME has invested years and millions of dollars into developing this new method for the administering of vaccines. ACME believes this development can be expanded to be used to replace the need for needles and help avoid the enormous environmental impact medical waste has.

ACME wishes to protect this new method of giving vaccines. As Manager of New Products at ACME, you are asked to take on the process of protecting this new process.

Not only are you asked to protect this discovery but your boss also insists that you identify a legal method which would allow you to offer the use of ACME’s new process to other pharmaceutical companies in Canada and the United States as a way to increase the revenues of ACME.

1. Given that ACME wishes to protect its newly invented process, what is the name of the type of intellectual property protection that is most appropriate in this instance? Define, or explain, this particular type of intellectual property protection.
2. Identify, and briefly describe, the three key factors which must be present before one can obtain this specific type of intellectual property protection.
3. In what countries should you file for this intellectual property protection in order to satisfy the instructions insisted upon by your boss?
4. Briefly describe how ACME can increase its revenues by allowing other companies to use its new process. What is the legal name of this type of money-making transaction?

Answer 1

The most appropriate form of intellectual property protection for the manufacturing process of a vaccine is "Patent". Getting a Patent gives the owner all the legal authorities to decide on who can or can not use, produce, sell or get their newly developed property for a specific time period. To get a Patent the owner must prove that the invention he has made is useful. One can not get an idea patented. For getting the patent their must be a solid ground on which one can file for it. Patents can be of three types:

• Utility Patents: used for machines, process, etc.
• Design Patents: used to patent design of a product
• Plant Patents: used to patent plants produced asexually

A invention can be sent for patent and can qualify to be one if it is new and not found previously. Once a Patent is done, the owner gets the right to decide how they want to use the product and protect it from other people for a specific time period.

Three key factors that make an invention to qualify for a patent are as follows:

• It should be new ( something that did not existed earlier): The invention should be a novel one, which has not been done earlier. Anything that preexists in any form do not qualify for a patent.
• It should be useful: Even if the invention is new, it will only qualify for a patent if it is useful in any way. If a new product is of no use it would not qualify for a patent
• It must be statutory: The invention must be required and permitted under the law. Anything Illegal can not be patented.

The Patent must be filed in the US Patent and Trademarks Office so that it can give ACME the rights to offer the use of this process in pharmaceuticals company of Canada and United States.

To increase the revenue from patenting, ACME can use Licensing Rights of the patent. By licensing the rights ACME will keep on having the ownership rights of the process and earn royalty payments whenever any pharmaceutical company uses their process.