Background info

Patent primer

[from Wikipedia] A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an invention.

Patent Law: Patent Law Basics

The procedure for granting patents, the requirements placed on the patentee and the extent of the exclusive rights vary widely between countries according to national laws and international agreements. Typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention which must be new, inventive, and useful or industrially applicable. In many countries, certain subject areas are excluded from patents, such as business methods and mental acts. The exclusive right granted to a patentee in most countries is the right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or distributing the patented invention without permission.

Patent Law

A patent is not a right to practice or use the invention.[2] Rather, a patent provides the right to exclude others[2] from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the patented invention for the term of the patent, which is usually 20 years from the filing date. A patent is, in effect, a limited property right that the government offers to inventors in exchange for their agreement to share the details of their inventions with the public. Like any other property right, it may be sold, licensed, mortgaged, assigned or transferred, given away, or simply abandoned.

Application

A patent is requested by filing a written application at the relevant patent office. The application contains a description of how to make and use the invention that must provide sufficient detail for a person skilled in the art (i.e., the relevant area of technology) to make and use the invention. In some countries there are requirements for providing specific information such as the usefulness of the invention, the best mode of performing the invention known to the inventor, or the technical problem or problems solved by the invention. Drawings illustrating the invention may also be provided.

The application also includes one or more claims, although it is not always a requirement to submit these when first filing the application. The claims set out what the applicant is seeking to protect in that they define what the patent owner has a right to exclude others from making, using, or selling, as the case may be. In other words, the claims define what a patent covers or the "scope of protection".

External Links

General

• Wikipedia Entry on Patents

Global

• World Intellectual Property Organization
• Intellectual Property Institute, London
• FreePatentsOnline

Europe

• European Patent Office
• Nordic Patent Institute
• Norvegian industrial property office
• Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property

• European Union

  Austria: Austrian Patent Office (see: section "Online" from the navigation menu on the left)

  Belgium: see: Benelux Office for Intellectual Property

  Benelux: Benelux Office for Intellectual Property

  Bulgaria: Patent Office

  Cyprus: Department of Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver

  Czech Republic: Industrial Property Office (Czech Patent and Trademark Office)

  Denmark: Danish Patent and Trademark Office

  Estonia: Estonian Patent Office

  Finland: National board of patents and registration of Finland

  France: Institut national de la propriété industrielle

  Germany: German Patent and Trademark Office

  Greece: Industrial Property Organization

  Hungary: Hungarian Patent Office

  Ireland: Irish Patents Office

  Italy: Ufficio italiano brevetti e marchi (Italian Patent and Trademark Office)

  Latvia: Patent Office of the Republic of Latvia

  Lithuania: The State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania

  Luxembourg: see: Benelux Office for Intellectual Property

  Malta: Industrial Property Registration Directorate of the Commerce Division of the Ministry for Competitiveness and Communications of Malta

  The Nederlands: see: Benelux Office for Intellectual Property

  Poland: Patent Office of the Republic of Poland

  Portugal: National Institute of Industrial Property

  Romania: State Office for Inventions and Trademarks

  Slovakia: Industrial Property Office of the Slovak Republic

  Slovenia: Slovenian Intellectual Property Office

  Spain: Spanish Patent and Trademark Office

  Sweden: Swedish Patent and Registration Office

  UK: UK Intellectual Property Office

Australia

• IP Australia

China

• State Intellectual Property of the P.R.C.

Israel

• Patent Office of the ministry of justice

Japan

• Japan Patent Office

Russia

• Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (ROSPATENT)

USA

• US Patent and Trademark Office

Disclaimer

The information on the pages of the HUMAINE Association's Patent SIG is provided "AS IS", without any express or implied warranty of any kind. For example, there is no guarantee of correctness or completeness, or any other guarantee of any kind. Under no circumstance shall the SIG Board or the HUMAINE Association be held liable for any damage that may arise from the use of this information in any way.