What are patents?

Patents provide exclusive (but temporary) rights to an inventor to prevent others from exploiting the invention for market gain. That is to say, once the patent right has been awarded, only its owner – or parties permitted by the owner (for example, by licence) – is able to bring to market the patented invention or technology. This could include a new mechanical device or a new headache pill, for example. If another party uses the invention without the patent owner’s knowledge or consent, then the patent gives its owner the right to sue that unauthorised party for infringement. This applies, among other things, to the manufacture, distribution, sale, import and export of the protected invention.

By ensuring that the patent owner can prevent others from exploiting their invention, patents provide a means to obtain a return on investment and to justify the resources needed to develop future innovations. However, before a patent can be granted, an invention must fulfil certain criteria. These can differ according to the country or jurisdiction in question but, in general, this will include the need for the invention to be ‘new’, to imply an activity of invention (the so-called ‘inventive step’), and be susceptible to industrial application.

Patents: from application to issue

In order to obtain a patent, an inventor or company first needs to submit a patent application to the relevant national or regional administrative body; for example, at the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO). As part of the patent examination process, that administrative body will formally publish the patent application and examine whether the application meets the criteria for the grant of a patent.

In order to assist this process and to ensure clarity once the patent has been granted, every patent application includes a detailed description (in words and pictures) of the invention and also a set of claims. The description should allow technicians outside the applicant’s company to be able to understand and use the invention to obtain the stated results; if they are unable to do that, then the application may be refused. In comparison, the claims are intended for legal practitioners, since they define the scope of the protection being conferred by the patent.

The date of filing the patent application is also important. An invention will only be deemed ‘new’ if it has not been previously disclosed anywhere in the world before the filing date. Anything already disclosed is called ‘prior art’ . This prior art includes all that has been made available in the public domain before the application’s filing date, by written or spoken description, use or any other means.

The filing date also serves as the starting point for calculating the length of the patent term. It may also be used to calculate the priority period for filing subsequent patent applications claiming priority from this earlier application. For a filing date to be assigned to the patent application, it must be submitted to the relevant national or regional patent office in the form required by the law and, generally, must identify the applicant and the inventor.

When does a patent expire?

A patent is limited in terms of both time and territory. The general term of a patent is 20 years from date that the patent application is filed (although some different countries apply different terms). In addition, a patent right covers only the territories in which the application was filed. A patent awarded by the UK’s IPO Office, for example, is a UK patent and confers rights only in the UK.

Similarly, just because the relevant national body has granted you a patent right doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will be able to enforce it there for the full 20 years. Depending on the facts of the case, a third party may apply for a court decision to reduce or cancel the effect of a patent in that state. To help ensure that your patent rights aren’t challenged in this way, it’s important that you do your homework prior to filing the patent application.

Would you like to know more about Novagraaf’s patent-related services?

If you would like to receive more information on applying for or enforcing a patent, please click on the links below, or contact us via the form in the upper right-hand corner of this page.