The efforts to ensure the intellectual property rights of an innovation in the country and abroad resulted in another research achievement: the dihedral sensor was granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The patent was issued in early March, only three years after the request was filed. Developed by Embrapa Instrumentation (São Carlos, SP), this is the third patent obtained by the technology in less than two years. In 2016, the sensor received two, one in Australia and the other in China. The supervisor of Embrapa Instrumentation's Technology Prospecting and Assessment Sector, Sandra Protter Gouvêa, recalls that having a patent or registration granted by the responsible department of a country or region gives exclusive trading rights in the territory that granted it, even if it is for a limited period. “For S&T institutions, the goal is to transfer the technology in a way that is advantageous to the partner that will trade it, with the possibility of economic returns to the institution”, she says. However, Sandra clarifies that intellectual property analysis processes are complex and can involve meeting a series of requirements and providing evidence, especially in the case of a patent abroad. In the case of the dihedral sensor, the technology was filed in Brazil in 2010 as an invention request in the National Industrial Property Institute (INPI), where the analysis is in progress . "Later a request to extend the protection was made through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), in 2011, gaining time for the decision to ratify entrance in the United States, in 2013", she explains. Sandra recalls that the defense's argument not only resulted in the patent, but also in the full acceptance of the initially pled objects of protection that compose the technology. Between February 2015 and August 2016, the American office initiated the process of issuing technical requirements, as part of the patentability examination, and all of them were met with the support of the sensor's inventor, the researcher Adonai Gimenez Calbo. According to him, Embrapa Instrumentation's team and Embrapa's Secretariat for Business (Brasília, DF) had to arduously dedicate themselves to be able to prove that the dihedral sensor technology was not only new as opposed to other state of the art inventions, but also involved significant inventive activity. “In that sense, having the USPTO grant the patent was the most difficult part, in view of the technical comparisons that the American examiner raised. This type of difficulty, however, is normal, and it is that process that ensures the quality, newness and inventivity in patent documents granted in institutions like the USPTO”, he clarifies. The researcher says he is pleased and thankful for the dedicated work of all, which resulted in this victory. “I hope that this simple technology, which has several applications, can be well understood and adequately used in the fields and laboratories within its term of patent, which is valid for 17 years from the date of concession in the United States”. The dihedral sensor is already licensed for trade by Brazilian and American companies. In 2012, the technology was licensed by Irrometer Company Inc. in the United States, and now the patent has guaranteed the company exclusive rights to manufacture and trade it in that market. Sensor In Brazil, the technology is offered in two versions, a fixed one and portable one, by Tecnicer Ceramic Technology Ltda, with headquarters in São Carlos, SP. The company is already producing the sensors in an industrial scale and commercializing it in the entire Brazilian territory. Calbo says that the sensor can even work without electricity. The technology is going to help farmers and homemakers who cultivate plants in vases and mini-gardens. The instrument works for any kind of crop and can be adapted to all regions of the country. The researcher explains that the dihedral sensor is formed by two plates: a glass one and a ceramic one, both made of glass, or both made of ceramics. This sensor can provide visual, pneumatic or electric readings and works as a thermometer that, instead of temperature, measures the force with which water is retained in the soil and substrata. Concessions In 32 years of existence, Embrapa Instrumentation - whose current team includes 30 researchers in activity - has filed 103 requests at the National Industrial Property Institute (INPI), of which 53 are invention patents, 21 computer programs, 19 utility models, 9 trademarks and 1 industrial design. Out of the 72 patents (inventions and utility models) requested, 31 have already been granted to 21 technologies, of which 16 are national, 1 in Japan, 4 in the United States, 3 in China, 1 in Spain, 1 in Argentina, 1 in Europe - with effect in France, United Kingdom and Germany -, 1 in South Korea, 1 in Chile, 1 in Australia and 1 in Mexico). Out of the 21 software requests filed, 9 have already been granted. For the general head of Embrapa Instrumentation, João de Mendonça Naime, the obtention of such national and international patents evidences the unparallelism and the excellency of the work carried out at Embrapa, and it is fundamental to have innovation happen and protect the investment that Brazilian society makes in research and development, which are reverted into benefits as new products and services. Translation: Mariana de Lima Medeiros