Intellectual-property rights articles from across Nature Portfolio

Researchers developed an open-hardware structured illumination microscopy add-on. This affordable upgrade provides super-resolution capabilities for normal optical microscopes. Detailed instructions enable easy reproduction to help democratize advanced microscopy.

A comprehensive analysis of the key properties of nanopesticides in controlling agricultural pests for crop enhancement shows a much higher efficacy compared with non-nano analogues, also for in-field trials.

Achieving ambitious climate goals requires the development of new technologies at rapid pace. Probst et al. analyse global patent data and find that a growth period of inventions from 1995 to 2012 was followed by a decline of ~6% annually, while invention remains concentrated in just a few countries.

By collecting nearly 50,000 perceptual estimates of smell, a reliable physicochemical measure that links odorant structure to odorant perception at a resolution that enables the creation of olfactory metamers was derived.

Administrative patent review procedures are an effective way of correcting erroneously granted biologic patents and may help promote timely drug competition for the benefit of patients and the US healthcare system.

Intellectual property safeguards should be more widely incorporated into the bilateral contracts that underpin the translational R&D process to preserve the public interest, especially where public funds and resources have spearheaded the innovation process.

Pandemic treaty is a rare opportunity to ensure pandemic-related technologies are accessible and affordable to all.

A review of the emerging patent landscape can assist key actors in making informed strategic decisions about AI applications in oncology.

Novel beneficial traits in agricultural microbes represent inventive steps of nature, but the inability of patent laws to reward nonhuman inventors has led to conflicts over microbial ownership rights and presents barriers to the sharing of benefits.