Intellectual property protection for bioinformatics and computational intelligence

Bioinformatics and computational biology are two fast-growing fields that require the direct application of computational intelligence. The American patent system is currently going through the biggest reformation since the passage of Patent Act of 1952, and thus intellectual property rights (IPR) and strategies continue to be increasingly vital in these fields. In order to better understand the status quo of intellectual property (IP) specifically in the fields of biology that apply computational intelligence, basic IP definitions, recent IP developments, and advanced protection strategies are presented and discussed.