^{raising
intellectual property awareness}

some patent truisms
page last updated: 24 Sep 2008

usually found at the end of a patent document and set out the limits of what is protected from copying in the country to which the patent applies
interpreted by reading the contents of the patent document and what would have been well known and part of the general knowledge of people in the same technical field ("art"), normally at the time the patent was applied for
in a published patent application, they are what the applicant has asked for and not what the patent authorities have allowed - they have not been examined for novelty, inventiveness, usefulness in an industrial context etc.
patent infringement occurs if what you are doing or selling falls within the scope of one or more claims of a patent that is in force BUT....
to infringe, what you are doing or selling must match all of the features specified in the claim
there are two types of claim – independent and dependent - the latter referring to one or more independent claims
to infringe a dependent claim, all the features of the independent claim plus those mentioned in the dependent claim have to be present

includes all relevant information and publications that are available to the public - not just in patents, technical documents and scientific publications - usually anywhere in the world - it is used to assess whether an invention has the necessary newness (novelty) and inventiveness (inventive step)
when judging whether a patent is inventive (unobvious) over the prior art, has to be in the same or another relevant technical field

"patent pending" or "patent application no." is simply a warning notice that a patent may be granted
applications are normally published essentially with the wording filed by the applicant about 18 months after the earliest priority date and only give very limited rights until they are granted
duration of a patent is normally 20 years from the date when it was applied for
grant of a patent does not necessarily mean that the product or process can be commercialised without risk of infringement – other patents may prevent it
be careful to apply for patents in the countries right for your business – it is better to apply in more countries at first and later drop some individual applications since adding new applications later is usually very difficult/impossible
when selecting countries in which to file, look where your competitors and potential licensees carry out their R&D, production and sales as well as the countries important to you for sales now and in future
renewal fees have to be paid regularly to keep patents (and often also patent applications) alive
patents can be applied for with a single regional or international ("PCT") application BUT....
patents are granted separately with limited national rights - for example a UK patent has no effect in the Irish Republic and vice versa - but corresponding UK and Irish patents may exist following a single European patent application which asked for patents to be granted in both countries