Why does the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) patent inventions?
The mission of the PHS is to improve the health of the American people. One way this is accomplished is by the PHS seeking patent protection for some technologies so they can be transferred to the private sector through licensing for further development, commercialization and distribution to the public. Often, without patent protection, commercial entities are unwilling to develop a product. The government seeks commercial partners because it is not within the scope of the government’s mission to turn a discovery into a useful commercial product for wide distribution. Generally a patent is most useful when significant resources from the private sector are needed for further research and development of the technology. The Patent Application Process at NIH Employee Invention Reports (EIR) Federal lab employees have a legal obligation to report inventions to the TTO. The method of reporting is utilizing the EIR form, which along with draft of proposed publication, supporting data, drawing
