What is the purpose of a joint research agreement in patent law?

This page is an FAQ based on guidance from the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. It is provided as guidance, with links to the ground truth sources. This is information only: it is not legal advice.

A joint research agreement (JRA) in patent law serves several important purposes:

• It allows parties to collaborate on research without fear of their work being used as prior art against each other’s patent applications.
• It provides a framework for sharing resources, knowledge, and intellectual property between multiple entities.
• It can help overcome certain prior art rejections under 35 U.S.C. 102(c).

As stated in MPEP 2156: “The joint research agreement provisions of 35 U.S.C. 102(c) effectively disqualify the subject matter disclosed by the parties to a joint research agreement (JRA) as prior art to each other for purposes of determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103.” This provision encourages collaborative research by removing potential barriers to patentability that might arise from such collaborations.