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The CREATE Act: Protecting Patentable Inventions that Arise from Collaborative Research

December 10, 2004

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The Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement (“CREATE”) Act of 2004 was signed into law by President Bush on December 10, 2004. The Act amends 35 U.S.C. §103(c) of the U.S. Patent Laws to provide a safe harbor where research is carried out under a joint collaborative research agreement between individuals or entities. The CREATE Act responds to an earlier decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), which held that while 35 U.S.C. §103(c) provides a safe harbor for inventions that are the product of collaboration involving coinventors within a single company or entity, a safe harbor is not provided for inventions made by researchers not employed by the same entity.

Resources

The CREATE Act.pdf

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