USPTO Launches COVID-19-Related Key Tech Platform

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has created a web-based COVID-19-related IP marketplace.

The idea is to provide a user-friendly guide to patents and published applications targeting the pandemic. 

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Those include "Methods Of Treating Coronavirus Infection" and "Prefusion Coronavirus Spike Proteins And Their Use." 

USPTO said it expects that its Patents 4 Partnerships platform can be a weapon in the pandemic battle by bringing to market by commercializing "technologies for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of COVID-19," in the near term, and perhaps other technologies in the long-term. 

“Patents 4 Partnerships is a meeting place that enables patent owners who want to license their IP rights to connect with the individuals and businesses who can turn those rights into solutions for our health and well being,” said USPTO director Andrei Iancu. “With an initial focus on COVID-19, the platform shows how innovation can contribute to the nation’s response to this critical health emergency.” 

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The patented technologies can be searched by keyword, inventor name, issue date and more.  

The list was compiled with information from a host of databases, including, in addition to the USPTO, from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC Business), the AUTM Innovation Marketplace (AIM), universities, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.