What are patents?
Patents are valuable documents which give their owner with legally
enforceable rights to stop others from using the patented invention, typically
for up to 20 years from the date they were first applied for. They are
granted by individual countries usually after an official examination to check
their newness and usefulness in an industrial context and that enough
information has been given . Patents can now be obtained in most
countries of the world and in the main areas of technology from machines to
medicine. Mere discoveries, concepts and ideas alone cannot usually be
patented. Currently in the UK and Europe it is not possible to patent
methods of doing business or computer software as such, but machines and devices
implementing such methods or software may be patentable
To simplify things, there are procedures to apply for a patent in multiple
countries with a single application, under the Patent Co-operation Treaty,
administered by the World IP Organisation (WIPO), but there is no such thing as a "world
patent" and even a European patent changes into a bundle of national patents
once it is granted. It is also possible to obtain initial protection -
"priority" - for an invention by filing a basic application for a patent in one
country and then wait for up to a year to decide whether the invention is of
sufficient value to justify the cost of filing in other countries. These
later filed applications are then entitled to claim the date of the first
application for the original invention. This can be important in a
competitive area where others may be
filing patent applications for the same or similar inventions. The
fact that a patent application has been filed may be published in an official
bulletin but the content of the application is not made available until at least
18 months from the filing date of the original "priority" application.
It is essential to keep details of an invention secret until a patent
application has been filed. The non-confidential disclosure to someone
else can destroy the necessary newness of an invention required for a patent to
be granted.
further information:
page last amended:
24 Sep 2008 | 
