[open-science] [DIYbio] Seeking Open Source Licence for new biotech method (Marcus D. Hanwell)

Fri Sep 20 14:26:31 UTC 2013

Yes, disclosing the method puts it into the public domain and renders 
the method itself unpatentable, at least in theory. In practice, small 
modifications to the technique could make it novel enough to receive at 
least limited protections that in turn can be used to make broad 
assertions of the patent. That's what good patent attorneys do, and why 
they are highly paid.

There used to be a patent disclosure program that basically guaranteed 
your method got in front of the examiners, but the US discontinued that 
in 2007. http://www.uspto.gov/patents/law/disclosure_document.jsp

There is a company that promotes research disclosures as a defensive 
mechanism, too. http://www.researchdisclosure.com/publishing-disclosures

jtw

On 9/20/13 7:00 AM, open-science-request at lists.okfn.org wrote:

> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 15:02:35 -0400
> From: "Marcus D. Hanwell" <marcus.hanwell at kitware.com>
> Subject: Re: [open-science] [DIYbio] Seeking Open Source Licence for
> 	new biotech method
> To: Rafael Pezzi <rafael.pezzi at ufrgs.br>
> Cc: "open-science at lists.okfn.org" <open-science at lists.okfn.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<CAMkPkZXN0yLVT97MX+7PRDge_6Cs5Jub4jEGMdRLhFE_mBj=Lw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> That is my understanding and one of the drivers behind efforts such as
> defensive publications http://linuxdefenders.org/projects on the Linux
> Defenders page. You need to publish in certain places to have higher
> likelihood of turning up in the right searches for prior art though
> (unless you want to pay to litigate later, which can be far more
> expensive than obtaining patents). I thought this was a reasonable
> strategy to defend against patents in open systems.
>
> Marcus
>
> On Wed, Sep 18, 2013 at 2:09 PM, Rafael Pezzi <rafael.pezzi at ufrgs.br> wrote:
>> John,
>>
>> Wouldn't disclosing the methods openly constitute prior art and thus make it
>> openly accessible? According to wikipedia: "If an invention has been
>> described in the prior art, a patent on that invention is not valid."
>>
>> Rafael
>>