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U.S.-based innovators most actively patenting new anti-COVID19 vaccine and therapeutic technologies
By Ferraiuoli LLC
Universities and research organizations filed nearly as many patent applications as corporations for COVID-19 vaccines during the early months of the global pandemic, with U.S.-based innovators most actively patenting new anti-COVID19 vaccine and therapeutic technologies, according to a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) report on pandemic-era innovation trends.Called “COVID-19-related vaccines and therapeutics: Preliminary insights on related patenting activity during the pandemic”, the report names China, the U.S., the Russian Federation, the U.K., Republic of Korea, Germany, India, Austria, Switzerland and Australia as the top 10 applicant locations for vaccines.
The patent search looked at related patent filings from the beginning of 2020 through the end of September 2021. It revealed 5,293 patent filings on technologies related to COVID-19 in general, including 1,465 patent filings about therapeutics and 417 about vaccine development.
By comparison, from 1941 to 2011 there were just over 500 patent filings related to active ingredients about the influenza vaccines (WIPO, 2012). Even during the SARS outbreak of the early 2000s, fewer than 1,000 related patents were published, with no vaccine candidate emerging.
The study also showed shorter patent prosecution times for COVID-19-related patents, which may be partially attributed to the commendable efforts of patent offices to accelerate processing times to assist with the fight against the pandemic. Examples include the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which introduced a COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program to expedite the examination of applications filed by small and micro enterprises related to COVID-19.
Ferraiuoli LLC
Ferraiuoli LLC (FLLC) was founded in 2003 by the late Blas Ferraiuoli-Martínez, Eugenio Torres-Oyola and María Marchand-Sánchez. This group was then joined in 2004 by Fernando J. Rovira-Rullán, thus forming the founding core of FLLC. FLLC has grown exponentially since its founding from a law firm with three attorneys and a support staff of three to its current size of 54 attorneys with a support staff of 38. Also, FLLC has grown from initially being known as an intellectual property and corporate law boutique law firm to a multiservice law firm that handles most matters relevant to a business while continuing to earn praise for its leading intellectual property and corporate practices.
FLLC has been ranked as a leading law firm in Puerto Rico by the professional publication Chambers Latin America in intellectual property, corporate, bankruptcy, labor & employment, real estate, and tax law. Moreover, 17 FLLC partners have been ranked as leaders in their field by the same publication. 4 FLLC partners are ranked as leaders in Intellectual Property, no other firm has more than 2. This recognition in such a short period of time is a tribute to FLLC’s business model.
FLLC prides itself in doing its work faster and more cost-efficiently yet with the same quality as that of its main competitors. The founding name partners are available at all times to attend to client matters. Their work ethic sets the tone for the rest of the firm. FLLC’s founders’ goal has been steady from the outset: become one of the premier multiservice law firms in Puerto Rico.