Abstract

Due to the requirement of novelty in the application for a patent, the “patent, then publish” logic – contrary to the Mertonian ethos – puts pressure on academic science. By means of the “grace period”, a legal institution that allows the novelty of the invention to be temporarily protected despite a disclosure made in advance of a patent application, this dynamic could be mitigated. In this work, this exception is studied in the Chilean, US and Spanish patent systems. We conclude that the advantages granted by this exception are difficult to exploit, because, firstly, there is a lack of international harmonization, and, secondly, the researcher must know, before the publication of his manuscript, if his research results are patentable.