Patents in Academic Oral Maxillofacial and Craniofacial Surgery: A Comprehensive Analysis Using the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Innovation in medicine and dentistry has been an integral part of advancing techniques for craniofacial and oral maxillofacial anomalies. While some may prefer scientific publications for dissemination of innovation, others have proceeded with patents for protecting an invention as markers of innovation. Patents are available for any products or processes that are new, involve an inventive step, or that are capable of novel industrial application. Importantly, patenting an innovation renders the product or method unusable and unreproducible by other individuals without the patent owner's consent for the duration of 20 years.2https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s2104.htmlDate accessed: September 29, 2022Google Scholar Our analysis is the first to characterize patent-filing behavior and trends within academic craniofacial and oral maxillofacial surgeons. Patent filing for US craniofacial and oral maxillofacial surgeons was analyzed using the United States Patent and Trademark Office online database.1Kisyova R. Kannan R.Y. Nadkarni P. Chandawarkar R.Y. Overcoming the patent gap: A guide to patenting for plastic surgeons.Plast Reconstr Surg. 2021; 148: 908-917Crossref PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar A retrospective review of patents filed by 469 academic craniofacial and oral and maxillofacial surgeons from 81 institutions was conducted. These academic surgeons were specifically identified through a review of institutional websites. Clinical role, sex, ethnicity, and training specialty were collected. Most of this cohort specialized in oral maxillofacial surgery (63%) and the rest were trained in plastic surgery (37%). The cohort consisted of assistant professors (52%), associate professors (23%), and full professors (25%). In regards to the demographics of the cohort analyzed, 79% were male and a majority Caucasian (69%; the minority groups of Asian, African-American, and Hispanic constituting 19%, 4%, and 5% of the cohort, respectively). Among this cohort, 19 surgeons, 4% of the greater cohort, had filed a total of 44 patents, with the majority of patents being filed by full professors (62%), followed by assistant professors (27%) and associate professors (11%). The patents were mostly filed by men (82%) and Caucasians (82%), with the only minority group present being Asian (18%). The patents filed were primarily device-based in the category of plates and prosthetics (67%); other categories included methods (22%) along with tissue engineering and wound healing (11%) (Table 1). Data analysis also showed that 54.5% of all patents were filed by oral and maxillofacial surgeons.Table 1Patent-Filer InformationEthnicity Asian8 (18%) African-American0 (0%) Caucasian36 (82%) Hispanic0 (0%)Sex Male36 (82%) Female8 (18%)Clinical Title Assistant Professor12 (27%) Associate Professor5 (11%) Full Professor27 (62%)Patent Type Devices (Plates, Prosthetics, Fixation, and Implants)29 (67%) Methods10 (22%) Regenerative Medicine (Tissue Engineering and Wound Healing)5 (11%)Specialty Training Field Plastic Surgery20 (45.5%) Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery24 (54.5%) Open table in a new tab The low percentage of physicians who patent their inventions, particularly in a field that is in the forefront of innovation, has been attributed to the hurdles in the process of patent filing in prior literature.2https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s2104.htmlDate accessed: September 29, 2022Google Scholar,3Vecht J.A. Athanasiou T. Ashrafian H. Mayer E. Darzi A. von Segesser L.K. Surgeons produce innovative ideas which are frequently lost in the labyrinth of patents.Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2009; 35: 480-488Crossref PubMed Scopus (12) Google Scholar Starting from the beginning of this process, surgeon-inventors could face challenges in every step of the patenting; even its initiation may prove difficult due to the possibility of incorrect valuation of the idea due to unfamiliarity with commercial interest. The time-consuming and complicated nature of patenting innovations augmented by the fact that few surgeons have been trained on the medicolegal and business aspects of this process can serve as notable barriers. Finally, patents, contrary to performing surgical procedures, are not guaranteed to produce financial revenue; therefore, physicians may prefer to focus on the latter. Notably, the vast majority of the patents were filed by the academic surgeons who were Caucasian, male, and full professors, with women and ethnic minorities grossly under-represented. Gender disparity in patent filing may be due to implicit bias by the reviewers, as patent reviewers are not blinded to gender. Moreover, it has been shown that patents by women are more likely to be rejected and less likely for the rejection to be appealed than men. This may indicate that women are at a disadvantage in the process of converting their innovations to patents.4Jensen K. Kovács B. Sorenson O. Gender differences in obtaining and maintaining patent rights.Nat Biotechnol. 2018; 36: 307-309Crossref PubMed Scopus (33) Google Scholar While representation of Asian minorities in the patent-filing cohort closely reflects the percentage of this minority group within the greater cohort analyzed, African-American and Hispanic individuals had no representation in the patent-filing subset in this analysis. This may be due to their under-represented in medicine (URiM) status and lack of institutional/commercial support for this group. Finally, although full professors constituted only 25% of the surgeons identified, the majority of patents were filed by this group. This discrepancy is likely due to senior faculty having more experience with the commercialization of their ideas and more contacts in the industry. Increasing diversity among surgeon-inventors, by means of introducing diverse thought processes, experiences and approaches can help optimize innovation in surgery toward the goal of remaining contemporary and using interventions and tools of the highest quality. Studying the impact of diversity on patent quality in particular has shown that more culturally diverse teams produce higher quality patents.5Ferrucci E. Lissoni F. Foreign inventors in Europe and the United States: Diversity and patent quality.Res Policy. 2019; 48: 103774Crossref Scopus (21) Google Scholar This observation can be due to the concept of functional diversity, which emphasizes creating teams with complementary skill sets that subsequently lead to increased overall productivity and creativity. The under-representation of minority groups seen in the patent-filing cohort is most likely due to the upstream factors hindering their representation in surgical specialties and medicine in general. Continued efforts to facilitate URiM students' pursuit of medicine and further on surgery will be significantly impactful in improving the status quo. The presence of racial and ethnic minorities in advanced leadership and faculty positions can also play an integral role in both providing mentorship and motivation for URiM physicians to engage in the creation of patented innovations.