House Judiciary Committee
Approves CREATE Act
January 30, 2004 - The House Judiciary Committee Jan.
21 approved by voice vote the Cooperative Research and Technology
Enhancement (CREATE) Act, H.R.
2391, which is intended to help protect patents developed
by research teams collaborating at multiple institutions.
The legislation is designed to remedy concerns created by
a 1997 federal circuit court ruling in OddzOn Products v.
Just Toys. That decision, which considered technical aspects
of patent law concerning novelty, non-obviousness and "prior
art," appears to heighten the possibility that information
shared between or among research partners at different institutions
could be cited as prior art and used paradoxically to help
invalidate a patent arising from that same collaboration.
The CREATE Act would extend and clarify an existing exemption
under section 103 of patent law to protect inventions made
by research teams, provided that a written research agreement
is in place at the time an invention is made. No companion
bill has yet been introduced in the Senate.
Information:
Stephen Heinig, Lead Science Policy Analyst
AAMC Biomedical Health Sciences Research
sheinig@aamc.org
(202) 828-0488
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