what are Patents ?

The Motivation for patent was initially to promote the Inventions, Innovation. But soon later it became a business model for many organisations that benefits both buyers and sellers.

A patent is a form of intellectual property. A patent gives its owner the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing an invention for a limited period of time, usually twenty years. The patent rights are granted in exchange for an enabling public disclosure of the invention.

Lets take one famous acquisition. Google brought Motorola for $12.5 Billion but then later sold it to Lenovo for just $2.91 billion.DOES this sound a bad deal ? I would say No.
Big bonus that Google get out of acquiring the company in the first place was the patents that came with it. One of the possible reason Google wanted Motorola was for there patents. Motorola had a massive patent library that can be used defensively(approx 17000 patents).

Lets get into what, why and how of Patents .

What can be patented ?
Everything cannot be patented. Each country has there own law for accessing patentablility.
Abstract Methods, Ideas, Discoveries, Teaching methods are not patentable.
e.g. Newton could not have patented the gravitational law,as such a discovery is a physical law and is free to everyone!
To Maximize your chances, your inventions should be directed to improve the functioning of a technology.
e.g. an algorithm that improves the processing of a dataset.

What is Patent Bargain :
Inventor get the exclusive right for a limited time. In turn public gets full disclosure of the technology and right to use it when patent expires.
— Exclusive rights refers Right to exclude others from a market.
— right to forbid,to make,to sell
— this right is limited to the territory where a patent is valid.
e.g. : a product patented in US will only be protected in US but not in India. But you cannot import that product from US to India without your concern.
— patent granted for same invention in different countries are independent
— Duration = 20 years (if annual fees are paid)
e.g. : generic drugs

If third parties have wider scope of the same patent that already exist, in that case there patent will also be valid as there patent overcomes the limitations/drawbacks set by your patents.
e.g. : you developed a mobile phone and patented it however another person can add Feature X on that patented mobile phone and can patent this new device which now has all the feature.

- patent right is not necessarily an right to make something by the patentee but right to exclude others from making something.
Full and sufficient disclosure is condition for the validity of the patent.

Patent Exhaustion : exclusive right is exhausted after a patented article is sold for the first time with the patentees consent.
-> purchaser is free to use and resell(however a restriction can be made)

Compulsory Licenses : to use someone else IP without seeking the right holders consent.
-> exception to general rule

Requirements for the grant of compulsory licenses :
attempts to get the commercial license in reasonable number of terms should have failed in reasonable number of times.
e.g. patents by govt., failure by patentee to meet the requirement meet by public and also incase of national emergency, public health need

Patent Document comprises different parts :
First Page discloses all kinds of administrative information, type of patent( i.e. India or US or Japan patent application), names of inventors, names of proprietors, when application was filled, published etc.
after that patent document comprises drawings, figures supporting the specification/explanation followed by the claims.

Enforcing IP :
Patent can be used to create a monopoly over the market by its own product. But this monopoly only remains for a period of time after which the patent expires.
1. patent — for defensive purpose
2. for cash purpose
3. for for patent pool = agreement between two or more patent owners to license third party
3. for for patent pool

Excluded from Patentablility :
(i). Invention contrary to “ordre public” or morality.
(ii). Plants or animals varieties or essentially biological processes for producing plants or animals.
(iii). Method of treatment of human or animal body and diagnostic methods.

1. Validity of a patent is decided by the court when challenged by the third party.
   Sometimes Judges may not have the write the technical skills in that case subject matter experts may assists the judges.
   Before discussing with the court Patentability issues are addressed by the Patent Offices, patent examiners. Patent Examiners has the knowledge of there national patent law. They are also specialized in one technical domain which helps them in examining the patent application.
2. Criteria for Patentability may involve :
   2.1 Deciding Body :
   2.2 Proceeding Involved :
3. Is the Innovation really an Inventions ?
4. Is your Invention distinguish over “Prior-Art” ?

Novelty and Inventive means :
A claimed Invention is new if it is not in the state of the prior art.
Involve and Inventive step if it is not obvious to the skilled person in light of the state of art.

Important Golden rules:

1. Do not publish any articles, press releases, blog posts, etc before you file.
2. Do not sell any products incorporating the invention before you file
3. Sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
4. Seek professional advice at an early stage.
5. And most importantly File your patent application before anyone else.

Another important thing about the Patent is if you have filed an patent in one of the member state(which is a member of the Paris Convention), then you get a 12-month delay for the subsequent patent applications in other countries which are member of Paris Convention.

Utility Models :
“petty patents” are cheaper than patents and are not popular in all the countries.
Countries like Japan, Germany, China follow it however UK, US don’t.
They undergo Easy an quick examination and require lower inventiveness. This inventiveness is assessed only when its validity is challenged in court.
It also has a short commercial lifetime which ranges from 6–10 years(usually varies with different countries).

Priority Delay :
This means that when you first file your application in one country which is a member of Paris Convention, then you get a 12-month delay to file subsequent patent applications in others countries(which are also member of Paris convention). During this 12 month delay, you will be granted immunity from intermediate disclosure.
Thus, you don’t need to file subsequent patents immediately. During this one year you can get a better understanding of the technical opportunities in different countries.

Examination of Patent :
1. Prior art search
2. Patent Office Actions
3. Grant/Rejection

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) :
1. International Patent Law treaty.
2. Provides a Unified procedure for filing Patent applications.
3. As of today,it has 152 member states.
4. PCT application :
4.1. File a PCT application(before receiving office + in only one language).
4.2. An international search is being made by receiving office .
4.3. Optional International Preliminary Examination is conducted which results in IPER (International Patent Examination Report).
4.4 PCT application is automatically published by international bureau after the 18 months of first filing.
4.5 After 30 months of PCT application, the international phase ends and the application ends regional and national phase. At this stage applicant may choose as many countries as he wants.
5. Advantages :
5.1 Unified filing procedure across different regions.
5.2 gets 30 months delay deciding countries where patent protections is sought and if the technology is worth it investing more or not.

Tools for Patent Search:
Here i will keep some of the links of various websites, tools that can be referred while performing patent search.
1. WIPO (http://www.wipo.int/portal/en/index.html)
2. Patentscope (https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/fr/tutorial.jsf)
3. Using USPTO (https://www.uspto.gov/patents-application-process/search-patents)
4. Using ESPACENET (EPO)

Two another important terms are Background IP and Foreground IP. Background IP is pre-existing intellectual property that a party brings to a research project, while Foreground IP is intellectual property generated in the research project.

Managing IP:
Following are some key points that summarizes most of the aspects of IP Management in a Company. IP Management is not the same for start up when compared with a Large MNC. therefore here comes the “IP Manager” which helps you in handling all these tasks.

1. IP Valuation : for
   1.1 Context Analysis
   1.2 Transfer Charges
   1.3 Damages
   1.4 IP Rights Analysis
   1.5 Competitive Landscape
   1.6 Financial Methods :
   1.6.1 Market approach
   1.6.2 Cost approach
   1.6.3 Income approach (DCF)
2. Monitoring Potential Infringement.
3. Dealing with Legal Entities
4. Defining IP Strategy
5. Identifying IP
6. Creating IP Assets
   and much more ….

This was some information, terminologies and an an overview of what you can expect whenever a discussion on patent has started.

Click IP Law for new Business to navigate to parent article which talks more about the IP Law.

If you have any suggestion/comments, please feel free to drop a mail/comment etc.