Octrooiencentrum
8 important questions on Octrooiencentrum
Kinds of protection/ intellectual property
- Designs
- Trademarks
- Patents
What is a patent?
- To produce
- To import
- To have in stock
- To trade
- To use in company
Beware: Patent applications and granted patents are published.
The 'social contract' implicit in the patent system
- reveal invention
- Get exclusivity
... so that others can learn from it and improve upon it!
Requirements for a patent
You only obtain the patent right when it is:
- New (worldwide)
- Inventive
- Industrial applicable (solution for a problem)
- Higher grades + faster learning
- Never study anything twice
- 100% sure, 100% understanding
Misunderstanding with a patent I am protected
• You have to start a legal procedure yourself
• Patents can be nullified (novelty, inventive step)
PCT= worldwide procedure
- Central application for 137 countries WIPO
- Filing in: English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese of
Russian
- Novelty search and preliminary examination
- Publication 18 months after filing
• Procedure stops after 30 months (no grant!)
• Procedure continues in countries or regions of choice (By sending PCT application to national office)
Found a document? whats next?
- Negotiate about a licence
- Buy the patent
- Develop another technique
What not to do when considering filing a patent application
• No publication prior to filing
e.g. no article, press release, conference
presentation/poster/proceedings or blog entry
• No sale of products incorporating the invention prior to filing
• No lecture or presentation prior to filing
except under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
- Seek professional advice soon!
- File before others do!
Importance of intellectual property
- Swedishsteel-makerSandvik:20%ofitsvalueisfromIP!
• Increases funding for innovative projects
- WithoutIPmanyinnovativeprojectswouldnotbeprofitable
because anyone who wanted could simply copy the results
• Protects small innovative firms
- Dolby® Laboratories
- W.L.Gore&Associates(Gore-Tex®)
• Needed to release IP into the public domain under controlled conditions:
- Linux(GPL):improvementsmustbefreetoo!
The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:
- A unique study and practice tool
- Never study anything twice again
- Get the grades you hope for
- 100% sure, 100% understanding