USPTO Initiative to Facilitate Getting COVID-19 Technologies to Market
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has launched a new initiative called the “Patents 4 Partnerships” IP Marketplace Platform. The initiative aims to partner IP owners interested in licensing their technologies with potential licensees interested in commercializing them by providing a centralized and easily accessible platform for potential licensees to search available patents and patent applications.
Listings are made on a voluntary basis, and may include patents or published applications that are “available for licensing” on public websites or published in the USPTO Official Gazette Notices. Owners may also submit technologies for listing directly to the USPTO.
In the initial phase, the platform is limited to technologies that are reasonably related to responding to the COVID-19 crisis, including the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of viral infections. The technologies currently listed on the platform include those related to disinfectants and methods of sterilization, personal protective equipment, medical equipment, vaccine development, drug delivery systems, therapeutics, antibody development, and molecular diagnostics.
The USPTO encourages IP owners to submit technologies that are available for licensing and are believed to be related to the COVID-19 response by downloading and following the instructions provided on this form.
