International patent filing strategy: a bio/pharma survey

"International Patent Filing Strategy Survey for Patent Attorneys in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical industries" is the admirably descriptive subject line of an email which the Kats have received from Derek Midkiff. Since it is a plea for assistance, which ideally requires attention before the end of the month, this Kat hopes that those patent-y readers whose professional commitments correspond to the profile of the survey's respondents will rally to the call.  Derek explains:

Thomas Jefferson: what
would he have made
of patent filing strategy?

"A team of law students who are members of the Intellectual Property law Fellowship at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California, are working on a research project to help patent attorneys to develop international patent filing strategies for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. With the help of IPKat readers, the team is working to amass statistically significant survey data on the countries in which patent attorneys most frequently file patents for their biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients, and the factors considered when making the decisions to file.

As Europe harmonises its patent laws and, more particularly, as the life science industry keeps growing, the demand for biotech and pharmaceutical products will likely increase. With increased demand, market competition and incentives for companies to patent their research and products will likely increase too. Once the results of our survey are published, policy-makers will have more information on the factors that patent attorneys from different jurisdictions consider most important when making their filing decisions. The results will also give European patent attorneys better information as to where in the world they can promote their legal services and partner with foreign law firms for patent applications being filed in Europe. Responses from European patent attorneys will be particularly valuable to see where the growing life sciences sector in Europe intends to export its new products.

Not one of the gifts, but one
of the survey respondents ...

The survey is open to patent attorneys from any country who prosecute patents in the biotechnology or pharmaceutical sectors. The survey can be found by following the hyperlink here. All personally identifiable information will be kept confidential. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. We would appreciate if you take the survey before 1 March 2014. As a token of our gratitude for completing the survey, respondents have the voluntary option of entering in their email address to receive the survey results when they are released, and to be considered in a drawing for one of several gifts.

If you would like more information or have any questions about this project please click here or email me, Derek Midkiff, directly at midkifdl@tjsl.edu. The results of the survey will be released on 11 April 2014, in San Diego, at a public seminar event with panel discussions on the evolving field of international patent law."

Before you get too enthusiastic, a word of warning: the survey is not formatted to accommodate tablets or smartphones. Using a tablet or smartphone will prevent successful completion of the survey, so do use a desktop computer or laptop.