COVID-19 descended into our lives and onto our economy with alarming speed. Many of us have been irrevocably affected by this disease. Personally, my dad lost his eldest brother. My friends and clients had to shutter their establishments and furlough long-time and valued employees. The one bright spot in this pandemic, is Congress and our federal agencies have responded with near equal speed in providing a stimulus package designed to help ease burdens caused by this plague. To that end, this past Spring, the USPTO launched the COVID-19 Response Resource Center. The Center is designed to help ease burdens put upon innovators caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are a few highlights.

Pro Bono Legal Assistance

Inventors and small businesses may be eligible for free legal assistance in preparing and filing patent applications based on their income level through the Patent Pro Bono Program. While this program is not exclusive to COVID-19, it is important and worth noting that there is a network of attorneys who have committed to volunteer their time and talent to drafting patent applications and other IP related legal documents on behalf of innovators and innovators that qualify. These programs are generally administered by USPTO-partner non-profits in nearly every state. For a complete list visit "Patent Pro Bono Program for Independent Inventors and Small Businesses."

Commercialization Assistance                

Since patents are commercial tools, finding buyers, sellers, licensors, and licensees to transfer the IP makes sense. So, with that in mind, the USPTO has created the “IP Marketplace Platform”. The Platform is designed for individuals looking to license technologies relating to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of COVID-19. Innovators can list their inventions through the IP Marketplace Platform, “Patents 4 Partnerships.”  These inventions may include personal protective equipment, disinfectants, ventilators, testing equipment, etc. The Platform’s FAQs can be found here. Innovators are invited to submit their applications or patents on the submission form.

Prioritized Examination

We all know the patent process is not a quick process. It can take weeks for an application to be drafted, years for an application to be reviewed, and an Examiner could take many years on top of that to issue the patent. As to COVID-19 innovations, the USPTO is hoping to fix this. The Office is waiving prioritized examination fees for product or process inventions related to COVID-19, provided the product or process is subject to FDA approval for COVID-19 use. This is big. This means the USPTO will allow COVID-19 related innovation the benefit of prioritized examination, potentially resulting in a patent within 12 months of the filing date. More information can be found at the "COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program."

The Last Word

The above resources are just a few of the resources the USPTO has provided to help innovators through the COVID-19 pandemic. These rule changes are not trivial, and can really boost businesses innovating to solve COVID-19 problems.

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Mary Kathryn Whitaker is a third-year law student at the University of Arkansas School of Law.  Mary Kathryn interns at Precipice IP, PLLC, where she researches and drafts materials relating to intellectual law.

Angela Grayson, CIPP/US, CLP is an author, speaker, and lawyer. She is the Principal and Founder of Precipice IP, PLLC.  Angela is a patent, trademark, copyright, and technology law attorney with almost 20 years of experience helping science and technology companies protect products, brands, designs, and data from idea to launch.

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