The Biotech Patent

Question 1

What are claims?

Answer 1

Claims define the scope of a patent and are expressed in one long sentence.

Question 2

What kind of claims are there?

Answer 2

1) Product claims
2) Use claims
3) Method (of production) claims

Question 3

What must claims be?

Answer 3

Sufficiently disclosed or enabled so there is no doubt as to whether another solution might be withing the claim.

Question 4

How may antibodies be claimed?

Answer 4

1) Be sequence
2) By deposit (cell line X deposited under Y)
3) By target
4) By activity (binding x and blocking y)

Question 5

How are claims on pharmaceuticals built?

Answer 5

Either first or second medical use.

First medical indication being: “Substance X for use as a medicament”

Second medical indication being: “Substance X for use in treatment of Y”

Question 6

Why are definitions included in patents?

Answer 6

To ensure your patent covers possible use cases.

Say you developed a drink on BSG, you need to include a list of what “a drink” is to make sure people can’t create a yoghurt because you might have only written that a drink is a milk.

Question 7

What makes a strong patent?

Answer 7

1) Armchair examples are worse than real-world examples when backing your patent.
2) Make sure the terminology is sharp in your claim 1, so that it is clear where you have defined your territory and offer sharp clarity.
3) You can write stronger patents if you understand the mechanisms behind it (but you don’t have to)
4) Shows all prior art and makes sure to tell why there is an inventive step between this and your patent.
5) Look at the examiners arguments and try to asses if they are right. And if so, how far down your claim list you can fall.