Protecting COVID-19 related inventions

The saying that ‘necessity is the mother of Invention’ has been given meaning in many parts of the world, as well as Ghana, particularly during this period of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The world is racing to develop vaccines, cure and other remedies against it. Although it seems COVID-19 has done its worst, there are fears of a resurgence of the virus in a more devastating form.

Despite grim predictions, the hope is that things will only get better.

While the scientific community is making frantic efforts to find a vaccine, other intellectual efforts are being applied to deal with the pandemic in various forms.

A need or problem encourages creative efforts to meet the need or to solve the problem.

Behavioural changes

At the centre of the fight against COVID-19 has been the need for serious behavioural changes, notably among them are: no shaking of the hands in greetings or hugging, but most importantly, the washing of hands on a regular basis and coughing or sneezing in a tissue and disposing of it properly.

Experts have recommended that the washing of hands should be under running water. But not many people in Ghana have potable water, much less, flowing water.

Veronica bucket

In this travail, the Veronica Bucket, a hitherto unassuming bucket with a regulative flowing source attached and invented about 30 years ago by a biological scientist, has become a life saver.

According to the inventor, Mrs Veronica Bekoe, years ago, while she worked as a biological scientist at the Public Health Reference Laboratory, she realised that it would be necessary to create a water source that prevents contamination. The Veronica bucket was, thus, conceived and born out of her sole intellectual effort.

In numerous interactions with the media, Mrs Bekoe has expressed her happiness about the vital role her invention was playing during this time but she has expressed regret that she did not take lawful steps to receive title in respect of her invention, that is, patent it.

Inventions

The Wright Brothers are noted for inventing the aircraft, which has improved over the years. It is noteworthy that their descendants are still reaping the benefits because they had a lawyer patent it.

Thomas Edison also invented the light bulb and many years after his life, the benefits in royalty are there to see. Medications which find their way onto the market are all under patent. It is big business.

Other innovations
Mrs Bekoe, the inventor of the Veronica Bucket regrets she did not patent the bucket and with a properly structured patent system, she could have been receiving lots of money for work done 30 years ago.

Thirty years ago, is 1990 and the applicable Patent Law was a PNDC Law. This has since been replaced by the Patent Act of 2003.

As part of promoting the handwashing campaign, other inventions such as the solar hand washing machine by Richard Kwarteng and others have been made.

Indeed, President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has had occasion to applaud some of these inventors.

Notable among these innovations are the solar hand washing machine mentioned above, the water pumping machine which is a mechanical leg-propelled version.

The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is reported to have developed a Rapid Testing Kit for COVID-19 capable of churning out results in 10 days.

Reports are that, it is at the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) certification level. Amazing feat by all reckoning.

Seek legal advice

While we celebrate the inventors for thinking out of the box and their call on the government to assist them to scale up, it is important that they seek advice from legal practitioners to patent their inventions and not have regrets afterwards.

Patent Law is only one of the areas under the broad area of Intellectual Property Law (IPL).

Trademarks Law and Copyright are all under Intellectual Property (IP). Ghana’s patentlaw that protects inventions of those mentioned is regulated by the Patents Act, 2003 Act 657.

According to Act 657, patent is title granted to protect an invention and an invention is according to the law, an idea which permits in practice the solution to a specific problem in the field of technology.

The invention may be a product such as the Veronica Bucket or a process to circumvent a specific problem in the field of technology.

The important thing to note is that once steps are taken to patent, second parties are not allowed to ‘exploit’ by making importing, offering for sale, stocking the product etc., without the inventor’s consent.

Patent infringement could be a serious issue under the law. The process of giving the consent/license to exploit is a big opportunity to negotiate.

There are other matters such as the time period to apply for patent and the requirements and the duration of the patent.

This article is not intended to exhaust anything. It is to alert those who are inventing now and will do in the future to take steps to secure a title to their invention.

Get paid for inventing

From the time the invention is made known to the public, the inventor has up to a year under the law to apply for patent.

Patents must be registered if they are to have any effect in law and create rights. By all means, receive the accolades but make it count for some money.

When inventors receive financial reward for thinking and creating things, society is the biggest beneficiary because more people will be encouraged to think to solve problems of technology and in other sectors.
Society will be better.

This will go for works covered by Copyright, Trademarks and Industrial designs.

I commend all inventors who have in the past and now or in the future, made or will make our society better and encourage them by this clarion call to attempt to own their invention, and while doing so, it is suggested that the Patent Registration regime be made less cumbersome at the Registrar General’s Department.

Writer’s email: Albert.quashigah@upsamail.edu.gh
The writer is a lawyer and lecturer