‘Double fraud’: end Indian academics’ fake patent scam, UK urged

Thousands of “fake inventorship” credits have been sold to Indian academics under a scam designed to pass off UK design registrations as legal patents.

In an investigation into how Indian university policies designed to encourage the commercialisation of research have been exploited, researchers in the US and UK discovered a handful of companies have taken advantage of loosely defined rules on what constitutes an “international patent” to offer a shortcut to scholars.

Copying the style of legitimate intellectual property companies, these outfits will list an academic’s name on an application for what they call a “UK design patent” for a fee of about £50, explains a new preprint which has been accepted for publication in the International Journal for Educational Integrity.

In fact, they offer a design registration which, unlike design patents, are not examined for novelty prior to being granted. Most registered design applications in the UK are granted in less than two weeks, while design patents are reserved for technical innovations.

Among the “spurious filings” identified were cartoonish illustrations for implausible “AI powered” and “machine learning enabled” devices, says the paper, which notes the £50 cost is generally cheaper and faster than buying a ghost-written research paper.

Other designs copied existing products with an “artificial intelligence powered skin cancer inspection device with design thinking” which in reality constituted little more than a picture of a colourful Glock pistol with a screen attached. Similarly, a “smart shoe for the visually impaired” resembled a multi-coloured shoe.

Source: 

Preprint titled: Exploitation of intellectual property systems for the manipulation of academic reputations

Such registrations help those Indian academics seeking patents to increase their “research score”, a points-based system for evaluating whether an academic qualifies for a promotion. Points are awarded for, among other things, obtaining an “international patent”, explains the paper, which notes the fake filings may put scholars at risk of blackmail in the same way that those buying fake diplomas have been targeted for extortion.

About 3 per cent of all design registrations granted by the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office since the start of 2023 were filed by the suspicious firms analysed in the study, the paper’s authors estimate, noting these firms usually had few or no genuine links to the UK.

One of the study’s authors, Sarah Fackrell, professor of law at Illinois Institute of Technology, described the practice as “basically a double fraud – these people aren’t inventors and these are not patents”.

Many of the suspicious IP firms, which advertised their services on Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, had links to essay mills and predatory journals, the paper also found.

“This practice demonstrates that established firms in the global economy of academic and education fraud are actively expanding into new markets and diversifying their services,” said another co-author, Reese Richardson, a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University.

“Academic integrity experts should see thesis and essay ghost-writing, buying scientific articles and citations and buying fraudulent patents as different offerings in the same marketplace. As we demonstrate, these services are often offered side-by-side.”

Universities in India should rethink some of the incentives that drove scholars to find shortcuts, added Richardson.

“Obtaining patents and publishing scientific articles are difficult goals to achieve – doing it genuinely requires access to resources – time, personnel, [and] funding. If researchers in environments without access to these resources are compelled to meet these goals due to pressure from their employers, at risk of losing their jobs or missing out on hiring and promotions, they will seek alternatives to doing it genuinely,” he continued, noting how “this is where paper mills and patent mills find a customer base”.

UK authorities should also consider tightening rules on registrations, added Richardson.

“These firms are exploiting people using state resources in the UK. I can’t speak to the specifics of UK laws and regulations, but I would certainly say authorities in the UK should use whatever means necessary to put this practice to a stop,” he said.

“At the very least, it might help protect the reputation of the UK IPO and the integrity of its design registration system.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com