Should I Register For Patent

Every bit an entrepreneur, you want to see market demand and stay alee of the contest. Patents can play an important role in this. But what is a patent? Why should you patent? And what is needed to obtain a patent? On this folio, nosotros explicate all the ins and outs around patents, so yous can make your innovation more profitable.

Types of intellectual property rights
Non-disclosure or patent
Objectives of patents
Patent requirements
Patent process
What does a patent cost?
FAQs

Types of intellectual property rights

There are diverse types of intellectual property rights (IP). The patent right protects the technical procedure or product of an invention for up to twenty years. It is an exclusive correct: (without your permission) others are not allowed to manufacture, utilize, sell, rent, or supply your invention.

The trademark right protects trademarks registered in the trademark register. Y'all can annals various types of trademarks, such as a word or device mark, dimensional mark but also sounds and even fragrances can exist a mark.

The blueprint right can exist used to protect the physical advent (such as patterns and 3D shapes) of new and unique designs and products. Inside the EU, information technology is possible to register the design up to 12 months after the first disclosure of the design.

Non-disclosure or patent?

In choosing betwixt a patent and non-disclosure of your innovation, four things are of import:

Can you go along information technology secret? Sometimes not-disclosure is not possible, for example if the innovation is a paperclip with a item shape that is obvious to everyone.
Can it be copied? For example, Coca-Cola is highly successful at using not-disclosure to forestall the recipe from being reproduced.
Is it patentable? The innovation must meet the requirements for patenting.
Is the life cycle of the innovation long plenty? It takes some fourth dimension before the patent is granted. If the economic lifespan of the innovation is shorter than the fourth dimension required to obtain the patent, patenting is not interesting - from an economic perspective - in most cases.

Objectives of patents

Past dealing strategically with your intellectual property, you volition strengthen your position and let your innovation to yield optimal returns. It prevents others from using your technology; a patent offers protection against misuse by others. In add-on, a patent not only strengthens your competitive position, it likewise makes you more appealing to partners and investors considering information technology offers them additional security. Moreover, intellectual property enables you to generate added value through licenses or sales. This enables you lot to create security during a phase when it matters for your business.

Patent requirements

If y'all want to obtain a patent, then your invention must run across three requirements: novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability.

Novelty:
This means that your invention was non disclosed anywhere in the globe earlier the patent awarding was filed. Non fifty-fifty past yous. The novelty requirement is mostly not a major barrier and not all aspects of the invention must be new. A combination of familiar things or a smart pick could already bring novelty to your invention. If you lot have thought carefully near your invention, there is oft already a new aspect to point out.

Creativity:
This means that your idea must non appear obvious. The question whether an invention is inventive is frequently judged on the basis of whether the invention improves on what is already known, for example, because it solves a problem for which the solution was not obvious to the
average craftsman. Suppose in a fictive globe, chairs have ever been fabricated with exactly iv legs and never less. Merely they have a problem because they wobble. Yous suddenly realize that y'all can solve the wobbling outcome, non past adding an additional stabilization element, merely past actually removing i of the legs. In this (fictive) world this could potentially be a patentable invention.

Industrial applicability:
This means that the invention must be fabricated or applied for industrial or commercial purposes. This is generally a low barrier and almost all technical inventions that are commercially applicable meet this requirement.

Patent process

Commencement, have a look at the video beneath where we explicate the patent application procedure:

Patent procedures often seem complicated and expensive. The three-stage route outlined below appeals to many, every bit it allows united states of america to defer costs and keep options open. It is the about mutual road to patent protection.

Stage ane – Premier depot
The starting time step is the priority application, also chosen premier depot or commencement filing. In this phase, your patent chaser advises you about the awarding strategy, based on your objectives. He or she will then depict up the priority awarding based on your wishes. This is an important moment considering it is decisive for your patent rights. The date on which the awarding is filed is chosen the priority date for the patent, which is valid for a maximum of 20 years. Anything published after this priority date will not touch on the validity of your patent. You will receive a novelty written report after almost viii months. With your patent attorney, you hash out the following steps to strengthen your patent application.
The text of the priority awarding can exist changed, but no additional content can be added.

Phase two – International stage
In any post-obit application you can add together substantive content, that must be filed no later than 12 months after the priority date. This is often an international awarding, also called Percent (Patent Cooperation Treaty) awarding. You can add a new implementation, case, or even a new idea to this. A separate, and therefore after, priority engagement applies to these additions. Unlike the proper noun suggests, an international application does non upshot in an international patent, but it does provide the possibility to eventually establish patent rights in almost all countries in the world. It is too a style in which to buy more time and delay costs because you do not have to immediately decide which countries you desire the
patent in. The awarding and novelty written report are published after 18 months.

Phase 3 – National / regional phase
You must choose the countries you want a patent in no after than two-and-a-one-half years subsequently the priority appointment. Our patent attorney will propose you when making this choice. Do you want a patent in several European countries? Then a European patent application could be a good selection. The European Patent Function volition examine the novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability of your invention.
In this phase, your patent attorney often consults with this organisation in social club to guide your application through the procedure every bit smoothly as possible. A European patent is issued after two years on average. That is followed by validation in the countries themselves, after which you pay an annual maintenance fee per state.

What does a patent price?

On average it costs most €8,000 to obtain a patent in the Netherlands and Kingdom of belgium and €14,000 in Frg. A patent attorney volition develop the application strategy for this based on your objectives and draft and file the patent application. The concluding amount depends on your objectives and the complexity of your invention. Do you desire a patent in several European countries? If so, then by and large you file an application for a European patent and the granted patent is after validated per country. This is oftentimes cheaper than carve up granting procedures per country.

A European patent granting procedure costs an boilerplate of most €20,000 until it beingness granted, afterwards which the validation fees are an boilerplate of about €1,000 per country (global estimates). In countries outside of Europe, the costs for obtaining and maintaining a patent can vary considerably. This has to do with translation requirements, lengths of procedures and complexity of the invention, among other things. You also pay maintenance fees to maintain your patent rights.