Virus Researchers Race to File Patents Ahead of Research Reveal

Life sciences companies and researchers are accelerating their patent applications, hoping to lay claim to their coronavirus-related discoveries before falling behind a tidal wave of information.

Scientists have published a cascade of coronavirus research, as part of a push to share ideas that could help end the pandemic. The attention on the health crisis and information sharing could make patenting Covid-19 treatments difficult, and create thorny legal questions about what inventions are obvious.

Some companies have sped up the filing of patent applications in response, to stay ahead of information disclosures that could make their discoveries unpatentable, attorneys say. Patent ...