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Get started. For example, imagine an inventor creates a novel product with the hope of licensing it to a third party for manufacturing and distribution. But unfortunately, he cannot find any interested companies. Rather than manufacturing the product himself, he gives up and begins a new project.
If he fails to pay the required maintenance fees, he will lose his patent protection. Patent protection also ends if a patent is found to be invalid. This may happen if someone shows that the patent application was insufficient or that the applicant committed fraud on the USPTO, typically by lying or failing to disclose the applicant's knowledge about prior art that would legally prevent issuance of the patent. A patent may also be invalidated if someone shows that the inventor engaged in illegal conduct when using the patent—such as conspiring with a patent licensee to exclude other companies from competing with them.
Once a patent has expired or has been invalidated, the invention described by the patent the patent "claims" falls into the public domain; it can be used by anyone, without permission from the owner of the expired patent. The basic technologies underlying television and personal computers are good examples of valuable inventions that are no longer covered by in-force patents.
The fact that an invention is in the public domain does not mean that subsequent developments based on the original invention are also in the public domain. Rather, new inventions that improve public domain technology are constantly being conceived of and patented. For example, televisions and personal computers that roll off today's assembly lines employ many recent inventions that are covered by in-force patents.
Beyond the duration of the patent referenced above, inventors should be familiar with a patent's overall life stages. The law actually recognizes five distinct "rights" periods in the life of an invention:. The information provided on this site is not legal advice, does not constitute a lawyer referral service, and no attorney-client or confidential relationship is or will be formed by use of the site.
The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising. In some states, the information on this website may be considered a lawyer referral service. Please reference the Terms of Use and the Supplemental Terms for specific information related to your state. Patentability Requirements. Provisional Patent Applications. Patent Appeals. Enforcement of Patent Rights.
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Timeline for Patent Applications. Scope of Patent Protection. Patent rights are usually enforced in a court on the initiative of the right owner. In most systems a court of law has the authority to stop patent infringement. However the main responsibility for monitoring, identifying, and taking action against infringers of a patent lies with the patent owner. This takes place according to agreed terms and conditions for example, defining the amount and type of payment to be made by the licensee to the licensor , for a defined purpose, in a defined territory, and for an agreed period of time.
A patent owner may grant a license to a third party for many reasons. Alternatively, a patent owner may have manufacturing facilities, but they may not be large enough to cover market demand. Entering into a licensing agreement can help to build a mutually-beneficial business relationship.
Unlike selling or transferring a patent to another party, the licensor continue to have property rights over the patented invention. Patented inventions have, in fact, pervaded every aspect of human life, from electric lighting patents held by Edison and Swan and plastic patents held by Baekeland , to ballpoint pens patents held by Biro , and microprocessors patents held by Intel, for example.
Patents provide incentives to and protection for individuals by offering them recognition for their creativity and the possibility of material reward for their inventions. Once knowledge is publicly available, by its nature, it can be used simultaneously by an unlimited number of persons. While this is, without doubt, perfectly acceptable for public information, it causes a dilemma for the commercialization of technical knowledge.
As a consequence, inventors would naturally be discouraged to bring new inventions to the market, and tend to keep their commercially valuable inventions secret. A patent system intends to correct such under-provision of innovative activities by providing innovators with limited exclusive rights, thereby giving the innovators the possibility to receive appropriate returns on their innovative activities.
These incentives and the dissemination of knowledge about new inventions encourage further innovation, which assures that the quality of human life and the well-being of society is continuously enhanced. There are numerous conditions that must be met in order to obtain a patent and it is not possible to compile an exhaustive, universally applicable list.
However, some of the key conditions include the following:. A patent is granted by a national patent office or by a regional office that carries out the task for a number of countries. Currently, the following regional patent offices are in operation:. Under such regional systems, an applicant requests protection for an invention in one or more member states of the regional organization in question. The regional office accepts these patent applications, which have the same effect as national applications, or grants patents, if all the criteria for the grant of such a regional patent are met.
In general, applicants can prepare their patent applications and file them without assistance from a patent attorney. Furthermore, the legislation of many countries requires that an applicant, whose ordinary residence or principal place of business is outside the country, be represented by an attorney or agent qualified in the country which usually means an agent or attorney who resides and practices in that country.
Information on the qualified attorneys and agents can be obtained directly from national and regional IP offices. The costs vary considerably from country to country and even within a country.
As the official fees vary widely from country to country, please contact the relevant national or regional patent office which will be able to give you details on the fee structure. Consult our list of national and regional intellectual property offices. Some countries offer discounts to small- and medium-sized enterprises and applicants filing the application online. In addition, some countries allow expedited examination upon payment of additional fees. In addition to the national official filing fees, once a patent is granted by the patent office, you must pay maintenance or renewal fees, generally on an annual basis, to maintain the validity of the patent.
In case you decide to patent your invention abroad, you should also consider the relevant official filing fees for each country in question, the translation costs, and the costs of using local patent agents, which is a requirement in many countries for foreign applicants.
In general, an application for a patent must be filed, and the patent granted and enforced, in each country in which you seek patent protection for your invention, in accordance with the law of that country. Therefore, one way of obtaining patents in a number of countries is to file a national patent application with each relevant national patent office. These have the same effect as applications filed, or patents granted, in the member states of that region.
This means that, in certain regions, you can obtain a regional patent from a regional patent office , which is valid in some or all of its member states. If you are seeking patent protection in a number of countries worldwide, a good option is to file an international application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty PCT , administered by WIPO.
Any resident or national of a state party to the PCT contracting state can file a single international application which has the effect of a national patent application and certain regional patent applications in some or all PCT contracting states. In some cases, this can be a more straightforward choice than choosing to try to submit individual applications in each and every country in which you require protection.
Find out more about the PCT System. The first step in securing a patent is the filing of a patent application. Many patent offices provide a specific form to fill in.
In some patent offices, you can file a patent application on line. In the patent application, in general, you must describe the title of the invention, as well as provide an indication of its technical field. You must also include the background to and a description of the invention, in clear language and enough detail that a person with an average understanding of the field could use or reproduce the invention.
Such descriptions are usually accompanied by visual materials such as drawings, plans, or diagrams to better describe the invention and an abstract, which contains a brief summary of the invention. In addition, depending on the applicable patent law, you may need to submit various kinds of statements, declarations or supporting documents to a patent office.
In view of the complexity it is recommended that you consult a patent attorney or a patent agent to prepare a patent application. The procedures vary significantly from one country to another, so it is impossible to provide an exhaustive step-by-step overview.
However it is recommended that you consult either a practicing lawyer specializing in IP or the relevant IP office. Consult our directory of national and regional IP offices.
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