«What means my name to you?…»¹

December 2023

Now in Kazakhstan, as in almost all other CIS countries, the use of personal names in the title of an invention or utility model is not allowed. Personally, I regret, some time ago it was possible, and even now such names of creative achievements and engineering developments as Wright brothers’ plane, Kalashnikov machine gun and Mendeleev’s table" are still in common use.

I intentionally gave examples not of patent names, but of outstanding achievements inseparably connected with the names of their creators, because now, as mentioned above, the name of an inventor or patent owner cannot be in the name of the patent.

As a rule, it takes many years for a particular development, especially in the absence of alternatives, to acquire a name of its own after widespread use. However, many outstanding inventions, discoveries and findings certainly deserve to be pointed to their developer, engineer, researcher and scientist. What can be done now to somehow, perhaps only temporarily, make such an indication? And, as we know, often temporary solutions become permanent.

Despite some difficulties, it is possible and will be of interest to the inventor’s inheritors, his friends, students and followers.

If the goal is to preserve the memory of your loved ones for a long time, the answer is almost obvious. It is a combination of at least two ways of protecting one’s intellectual rights tied to a specific development - a patent and a work of science.

Certainly both the patent and the copyright registration certificate contain the author(s) name. In the USA, for example, if the authors of an invention are listed in alphabetical order, it is possible to single out and indicate the key author (“key author”) who has made the greatest contribution to the creation of the invention, but this is not in practice in Kazakhstan. Patent for invention is granted for 20 years (for utility model and industrial design the terms are shorter) and it is not always enough to get recognition of one’s achievement, which may be many years ahead of the current level of needs of both individuals and society.

You can specify the author and even give his name to the device, method or medical preparation (as in the case of Vishnevsky ointment) in the registered work of art. However, such a work does not protect the essence of the work, but refers only to the form, which is also not small, but is protected for 70 years after the year of its author’s death. I may be wrong, but it’s enough time to show the value of development or its connection to the author’s name.

An indication of the surname may be present both in the title of the work and in the text of the description of this work. Of course, the same effect can be achieved by simply publishing this work in one or more printed publications, posting information about it on several sites, but in our opinion, the state registration of such a work, accompanied by the issuance of a certificate of registration is much preferable.

As with any type of protection, the use of a combination of patenting and copyright registration has its own details but the mere existence of the possibility of such protection in principle is interesting and significant.