Help with protecting intellectual property
Martin Krause is the new head of the Transfer and Property Rights department at the Transfer and Start-up Center, or TUGZ for short. The patent assessor is responsible for examining the university's own inventions. In addition to advising on and examining patents, his area of work encompasses much more than is apparent at first glance.
What are your tasks at TUGZ? How can you support founders with their ideas and patents?
My tasks here are (Pre-)evaluation of newly submitted invention disclosures, i.e. I check whether the invention is not already known from older prior art. To do this, I first carry out searches in patent office databases and check whether the invention has not already been described in an older patent document. If I can't find anything disturbing there, an in-depth examination is carried out by a service agency, which not only searches the prior art, but also provides an assessment of the exploitation possibilities. If their report is positive, I or an external patent law firm prepare a draft patent application, which is reviewed and possibly amended by the inventors. A patent is then applied for at a patent office.
My colleague Christoph Mendel then takes care of exploiting the patents, i.e. offering them to industry partners. The same applies to trademarks: For example, if MKM wants to register a new trademark or design, I research whether there are any older trademarks or designs that could potentially cause conflict. I also take care - in consultation with the legal department - of contractual regulations regarding patents, trademarks or designs. Training courses on patents, trademarks and designs also fall within my remit.
Martin Krause, Head of the Transfer and Property Rights Department at the Transfer and Start-up Center (Photo: Dario Krause/ University of Magdeburg)
What does a typical working day look like for you?
Ultimately, it consists of carrying out the tasks mentioned above: Correspondence with inventors, replying to examination notifications and so on. And our patent paralegal Lisa-Marie Raugust makes sure that I don't miss any deadlines - of which there are plenty in my job. Every day, a new task, a new invention, from areas that were previously unknown to me, awaits me.
Where did you work before your new job at the university?
Before that, I worked in several patent law firms as a patent attorney, but mainly as a patent assessor in the patent departments of industrial companies - mainly in the automotive sector, but also for a manufacturer of robots for minimally invasive surgery. There are few differences in terms of content, but the environment is more specialized.
What would you like to achieve in your new position?
I would like researchers to not only know that we exist here at the TUGZ, but also and above all to sharpen their mindset so that they realize how easy it actually is to make a patentable invention. I assume that they have already made many inventions that were not even recognized as such. And the invention is then - if you please - reported to us so that we can apply for a patent for the invention. Very important: This must happen before a scientific publication in a journal or on the OVGU website. If it is published BEFORE a patent application is filed, it is unfortunately "GAME OVER", as the invention would then no longer be new.
I would also like to point out to the inventors that they enjoy a very special privilege at a university that "normally employed" inventors can only dream of: If the invention is exploited, they receive 30 percent of the income generated by the exploitation. That's a lot of wood - and I should actually know a thing or two about wood, because I have a degree in forestry ...
Thank you, Mr. Krause, for the interview!
The interview was conducted by JANINA MARKGRAF.