Patent Management for Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing Business at the Institute for Infectious Diseases

Abstract

 Patent strategy is crucial for universities' pharmaceutical R&D. The university's intellectual property department usually manages its patents. However, in the past, patent management by the Institute for Infectious Diseases at the University of Tokyo was different from that of the modern-day University of Tokyo. The institute had an employee invention regulation in 1930; however, the status of patent applications and management at the institute before and after the end of World War II is not clear. First, to clarify the status of patent applications, old documents related to patents stored at the institute and patent gazettes were examined. These documents revealed that the institute filed patent applications in line with the objectives of its pharmaceutical development and manufacturing business. Next, by analyzing the decision documents related to patent applications of the institute, the authority and cost-sharing at the university were confirmed. Hence, it is argued that patents at the institute were managed in an integrated manner with the development strategy at the institute in charge of pharmaceutical development, and not at the intellectual property headquarters of the university.