Patents: A tool to bring innovation from the lab bench to the marketplace

Abstract

Intellectual property (IP) is creations of the mind. Protecting IP through patents is an important venue for a researcher to reap rewards from his scientifi c endeavors. It is part of a competitive strategy for bringing one’s invention to the marketplace. Using the US and European patent systems as examples, we provide here an overview of how patents protect innovation, with a focus on biotechnology. We explain what a patent is, what a patent owner can do with a patent, and how patents are granted. The article ends with some recent examples of noteworthy patents in the fi eld of yeast research.