Development of the Relationship between the Research in Science and Technology and the Intellectual Property Rights

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K18538
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Law and related fields
• Research Institution: Shinshu University
• Principal Investigator: Tamai Katsuya 信州大学, 経法学部, 教授(特定雇用) (20163660)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 営業秘密 / 特許 / 外国出願 / 産学連携 / 技術移転 / 防衛秘密 / デュアルユース / 技術安全保障

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aims to explore whether the major changes in intellectual property law, that is, shifting the center of gravity from the patent to the trade secret, with the United States as the epicenter, extend to public research institutions and, if so, how these affect the principle of public access to research results. For that purpose, the applicant has conducted domestic and international interview surveys. In addition, he has organized the "Technology Security Study Group" with leading experts in industry, academia, and government, resulted in publishing various proposals and implementing them in society. As a result, the principle of disclosure of research results in universities has been changed, not only in relation to the industry-academia collaboration, but also state secrets. It is now clear that shifting the center of gravity from the patent to the trade secret is dramatically developing, partly as expected, but partly in the unexpected way in relation to the "corona crisis".

Free Research Field

知的財産権　知財マネジメント　産学連携　技術安全保障

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、わが国ではほとんど知られていなかった米国に端を発する「営業秘密革命」に関する知見を提供しただけでなく、「営業秘密革命」が大学など公的研究機関に対していかなる影響を与えつつあるかという点まで明らかにした。わが国の大学が事前に何らの検討もなくこのような潮流にさらされた場合、ただ単にそれに流され、無自覚のうちになし崩し的な変化が進む可能性があったところ、本研究は、わが国にはまだ眼前にない状況を見据え、そこに未然に備えることに成功した点で、大きな学術的・社会的意義が認められる。