INVENTIONS CONNECTED WITH COVID-19

Authored by CS Priyadharshini

The entire world is crippled by Covid-19 and many are grasping at straws to shorten the diagnostic time by way of rapid test diagnostics kits, ventilators and other equipment to handle the scarcity at hospitals and of course a vaccine. To confront these challenging times, many inventors are coming up with novel ideas to address the shortage of medical supplies and also preventive measures.

In this article we address the precautions that an inventor needs to take if he intends to protect the intellectual property associated with his Covid-19 device or vaccine.

Reasons why an invention has to be protected

Any invention adds value to the society by way of introducing advanced domain-specific technology. Once the inventor secures his rights over his invention, he can license it to others so that a larger section of the society benefits from his invention, and he can also realise the monetary value of his contribution to the society at large. This would enable the inventor to make sure that his Covid-19 related invention is used in the way he had thought about it and any suggestion for modification that comes from a third party is also addressed and validated by him.

Precautions to be taken

It is crucial for the inventors to be aware of the strategy to protect their invention before it hits the road. Here are some of the key aspects that are to be studiously followed when an invention is in place but not yet protected.

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