Patents and licensing in pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

Intellectual property rights (IPR) have been defined as ideas, inventions, and creative expressions based on which there is a public willingness to bestow the status of property. IPR provide certain exclusive rights to the inventors or creators of that property, in order to enable them to reap commercial benefits from their creative efforts or reputation. There are several types of intellectual property protection like patent, copyright, trademark, etc. Patent is recognition for an invention, which satisfies the criteria of global novelty, non-obviousness, and industrial application. IPR is prerequisite for better identification, planning, commercialization, rendering, and thereby protection of invention or creativity. Each industry should evolve its own IPR policies, management style, strategies, and so on depending on its area of specialty. Pharmaceutical industry currently has an evolving IPR strategy requiring a better focus and approach in the coming era. The protection of inventions with patents in the pharmaceutical industry have a specific role in the development of society and represent one of the drivers of economic development. The license agreements are considered as one of the most common types of transfer of industrial property rights. The right holders often transfer their rights to patents by concluding licensing agreement. While the patent license may give the license a right to use the technology many license agreements have provisions for the transfer of know-how in addition to the patent.