Conditions for obtaining a patent
Inventions that are new, involve an inventive activity and that are capable of industrial applicability can be protected for a maximal duration of 20 years by means of patents.
Inventions that are new, involve an inventive activity and that are capable of industrial applicability can be protected for a maximal duration of 20 years by means of patents.
The invention can for example consist of a new product, a method, a manufacturing process etc. The criteria of novelty is absolute; any public disclosure of the invention, even orally and made by the inventor, prevents it from being subsequently patented. It is thus essential that the invention should remain absolutely confidential until the patent application has been filed and that it should not be disclosed to anyone except under written Confidentiality Agreement. The invention should not be commonplace and should not be obtainable by an obvious thought process. However, the inventive activity required for securing a patent is limited; great inventions are rare, and technological progress is usually a matter of small successive steps. When such an advancement, even a relatively simple one, brings a competitive advantage to its initiator, the company should consider the possibility of monopolizing it by a patent or any other appropriate type of protection.
The industrial applicability can be realized in any type of industry, including agriculture. However, methods of surgical treatment, of therapy and of medical diagnostics are not deemed to be applicable industrially and are thus excluded from patent protection. Discoveries, scientific theories, aesthetic creations, game rules, economic activities, the presentation of information etc. are generally not considered to be inventions.
An abstract, that allows the patent to be found more easily, especially in a database.
For the applicant, the claims constitute the most important part of the patent. The scope of protection granted is determined by the claims and it is thus the wording of the claims that will determine whether a competing product constitutes an infringement of the patent.
Example: A claim of the type “Device according to claim 1, characterized in that…” is a dependent claim, since it refers to claim 1.
The claims may be drafted in one or two parts:
Two-part claims comprise a preamble and a characterizing part separated by the expression “characterized in that” or “characterized by”. The preamble recites the claimed characteristics of the invention that have already been disclosed in a single prior art document. The preamble thus generally corresponds to the prior art that is closest to the invention. The characterizing part contains the new characteristics of the invention. The invention involves an inventive step only if the one skilled in the art were not able, through an obvious step, to also use these characteristics. The claim is considered infringed only if all the characteristics of the preamble AND those of the characterizing part are copied. A short claim, containing a minimum of characteristics, thus generally enjoys a greater scope of protection than a claim containing more elements.
A drawing is worth a thousand words! This is particularly true for patents or designs, where the quality of the figures is often critical in the scope of protection afforded to the patent.
Hereafter is a non-exhaustive list of the file formats that we can generally take over: Autocad: .dxf, .dwg SolidWorks: .sldprt / .sldasm / .slddrw Corel Draw: .cdr Adobe Illustrator: .ai Inventor: .ipt, .iam Catia Graphics: .crg Pro E: .prt, .xpr, .asm, .xas Solide Edge: .par, .psm Cadkey: .prt, .ckd Unigraphic: .prt Powerpoint: .ppt
costs for obtaining protection |
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The overall costs for obtaining a patent are constituted of several components and can vary considerably according to the invention and the chosen geographical coverage.The costs for the first patent (patent issued from the priority application) will comprise costs for preparing and filing the application, various procedure fees and grant fees, including translation costs in the case of a European patent. Furthermore, annual maintenance fees must be paid after grant of the patent in order to keep the patent in force during a maximum period of 20 years. At P&TS, the costs for preparing and filing the application are usually situated around CHF 4’000 for a simple application filed in Switzerland and up to CHF 15’000 or more for a complex international application preceded by a preliminary search. The costs incurred later during the course of the procedure will depend mostly on the results of the search report and on the ease with which the patent can be obtained. At each step of the procedure, we will gladly supply a cost estimate for pursuing the procedure.The costs for obtaining patents abroad vary according to the countries. Translation costs, which often constitute an important portion of the total costs of obtaining protection of an invention on an international level, must also be taken into account. These costs are incurred generally 12 months after the priority date but can be deferred up to 30 months in the case of an international PCT application. |