Patents

In an article for Commonwealth, Prof. Michael Cima and Prof. Fiona Murray spotlight the importance of invention and innovation, noting that “there is an immediate need for actions that will further the nation’s growth in productivity and inclusive prosperity, a measure of the extent to which all sectors of our population are empowered to contribute to the economy and share in its benefits.” Cima and Murray write that: “The power of inclusion is illustrated by the backgrounds and inspirations of the winners of the Lemelson-MIT Prize over 25 years.”

The Media Lab will host a patent archive with Google, Cisco, and the Patent and Trademark Office, writes Bloomberg BNA reporter Malathi Nayak. “This archive really can help individuals who don’t have any clout to reach patent examiners to get their work in front of them and to block bad patents from being issued,” explains research specialist Kate Darling.

Researchers from the MIT Media Lab, Google, Cisco, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office are working together to create an archive for IT industry patents, reports Brian Heater for TechCrunch. Heater explains that the MIT-hosted “Prior Art Archive” will help patent applicants “find easily accessible examples of prior art and other technical information for reference.”

Inside Higher Ed reporter Scott Jaschik writes that MIT was awarded second place in a, “global list of the top utility patents (awarded by the U.S. for a process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter) awarded in 2016.”

During a Financial Times podcast, Prof. Heidi Williams speaks about her work studying the impact of patent policy and technology on medical research and health care. Williams explains that her work focuses on the role patents and policies play in developing "the medical technologies that are most beneficial to patients.” 

In an article for The Huffington Post, Senior Lecturer Joseph Hadzima writes that a method for making the U.S. patent system more approachable is needed.  “They are dense and complex; it often takes a legal team and technical experts to make sense of them,” Hadzima says.

In a Boston Globe article about the high level of patent activity in Massachusetts, Emeralde Jensen-Roberts highlights MIT postdoctoral fellow Keith Hearon’s work developing a new type of biodegradable styrofoam, which he is patenting. “Now in the development phase, Hearon believes the citrus plastic with styrofoam has vast potential for larger-scale applications, thanks to its strength.”