Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California
I've discovered an untapped niche in a medical field. There is a company that produces a very simple chemical that is effective, but it tastes terrible and contains alcohol, which precludes it from being used on children. Because this product would revolutionize children's medicine, I want to develop a formula that has no alcohol, and tastes great. If I pay a chemist to create this formula for me, who owns the rights to it? How may I own the exclusive right to produce it, at will? How may I protect my product from being manufactured by other companies? Thank you!
2 Answers from Attorneys
See a patent lawyer in person. Unless the preparation you wish to concoct is made of known safe ingredients, and maybe even then, it is highly likely that you will have to spend millions in clinical trials and studies before the FDA allows you to market it in the U.S.
I agree that you need to have a personal interview with an attorney who is a member of the patent bar to get a preliminary opinion on the patentability of the idea and the proposed product, and secondarily to whom the patent would belong and how to assign the possible patent or rights thereunder to yourself. Then, as Mr. Stone points out, you may need to sell the rights or form a partnership to raise money for obtaining marketing approvals here and abroad.
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