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Intellectual property in IR, simplified
An overview of ways to protect your IP By Avery Witting, BSE, Patrick Hangge, MD, Hassan Albadawi, MD, and Rahmi Oklu, MD, PhD
M
inimally invasive interventions are rapidly becoming the mainstay of patient care and IR is uniquely poised at the
forefront of developing new technologies to improve current interventions. As novel devices or alternative interventions are discovered in clinical practice or the laboratory, these ideas must be legally preserved to ensure the rights of the inventor and to guarantee proper transition to clinical practice.
An understanding of intellectual property (IP) can help to ensure protection and licensing of new ideas. With the protections guaranteed from the United
States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), IP can be a powerful tool for health care professionals, including IRs.
The four types of IP that the USPTO regulates are patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Each type of IP, when used in conjunction with the others, forms a broad legal umbrella in which ideas are protected and used to shape and control the medical industry.
Clinicians interested furthering patient care through innovation should make sure they understand how to use IP to their best advantage. This article provides an overview on the types of IP and considerations while filing for IP.
Patents
Someone filing a patent application can gain the ability to prevent others from making, using, selling and importing the claimed invention. The filing protects against independent discovery of another party and prevents others from infringing on the claims established.1
If infringement occurs, reasonable royalties can be extracted either through private settlements or litigation. For the clinician inventor, this ensures all aspects of the idea covered under the patent claims are protected. Once filed, patent claims become available to the public.
Two types of patents exist: design and utility patents. The utility patent defines how an idea works and is used, while the design patent describes how the idea looks. Both require a new and nonobvious use that has not been established before. Utility patents maintain protection for 20 years from the date of filing, while design patents are protected for 14 years.1
Devices, techniques, and materials are the most common ideas for the pursuit of patents. If the clinician’s idea is not appropriate for a patent filing, then a
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