MADISON, WI USA (October 30, 2023) Porta Sophia filed a third party observation with the with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) today for International Patent Application Number PCT/US2022/033308 entitled “System And Method For Monitoring A Consciousness-Altering Therapeutic Session”, which is currently assigned to Mind Medicine, Inc. The submission consisted of five prior art documents that is material to the patentability of all 26 claims of the application.
Concurrently, Porta Sophia filed a third-party preissuance submission with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on October 26, 2023 for U.S. Pat. App. Ser. No. 17/839,374 assigned to Mind Medicine, Inc. and having similar claims.
Porta Sophia, a non-profit psychedelic prior art library, leverages the experience of legal and interdisciplinary academic scholars to promote an ethical psychedelic patenting landscape that preserves the integrity of the public domain. The organization curates and makes relevant historical documentation readily available for anyone wanting to explore the scope of psychedelic technologies, including patent examiners.
Patent applications: computer application for monitoring a psychedelic therapeutic session
The PCT and ‘374 applications were filed on June 13, 2022 and June 12, 2022 respectively and both claim priority to a provisional U.S. application filed on June 30, 2021. It describes a system for monitoring patients during a psychedelic induced consciousness altering therapeutics session using a data collection module in electronic communication with network servers for storage of data to monitor a patient’s well-being. The application also claims consciousness altering therapeutics including LSD, psilocybin, 5-MeO-DMT, DMT, DOI, DOB, ibogaine, and ketamine.
Prior art in the third-party preissuance submission and third party observation included publications from a peer reviewed journal, U.S. patent application document, and a non-traditional web page describing patient monitoring while receiving ketamine infusion. This prior art anticipates claims lacking novelty in the PCT and ‘374 applications. The full third-party preissuance submission is available here and third party observation documentation is available here.
Third-party submissions of prior art
United States patent law allows third parties to submit prior art and concise descriptions of their relevance to the USPTO. Documents submitted may be considered in the examination of that patent application. In addition, these submissions have a broad impact because applicants have a duty to disclose the prior art submitted against a single patent application for other relevant patent applications filed by the applicant.
WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty guidelines allow third parties to submit prior art and concise descriptions of their relevance to the WIPO. This ensures that the documents submitted will be considered in the examination of that patent application. In addition, these submissions have a broad impact because applicants have a duty to disclose the prior art submitted against a single patent application for other relevant patent applications filed by the applicant.
Porta Sophia tracks and analyzes psychedelic patent applications globally. If an application improperly claims innovation of something known in the public domain and meets the standards of Porta Sophia's third party intervention evaluation criteria, the team assembles evidence against these invalid claims and contests them directly to the relevant patent office through third-party interventions.
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Porta Sophia, meaning doorway to wisdom, is a non-profit psychedelic prior art library created to support good patents in the field of psychedelics. Based in Madison, Wisconsin USA, Porta Sophia identifies scientific, historical and cultural prior art in common and uncommon spaces and brings it together in one simple search tool for innovators and patent reviewers. The organization's mission is to protect the public domain, stimulate innovation, and support good patents to assure psychedelic therapies can one day be available at scale to the people who need them.
Porta Sophia works to support equity in the psychedelic field. The organization facilitates community engagement through encouraging submissions of prior art from the public and organizing an interdisciplinary Archival Researcher Network (ARN) to ensure quality psychedelic prior art is readily available to patent applicants, examiners, and those interested in psychedelic research.
To learn more about Porta Sophia's patent and prior art workflow or get involved, visit www.portasophia.org.