what is a patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted to a patent applicant to exploit his invention. The claims in the patent application give a detailed description of the invention. Before publishing a patent application it is kept secret for 18 months. Publication of a patent application is enforced by law to compensate society for the exclusive exploitation right granted. The exclusive patent right thus comes with a commitment to the inventor to share its knowledge!

when can a patent right be obtained?

To successfully apply for a patent in Europe, the invention at stake must be novel and involve an inventive step and susceptible of industrial production.

Novel and unique products are patentable. The same applies to novel or unique improvements to existing products. They too can be successfully protected by a patent right. The concepts novelty and inventive step are broadly interpreted thus including inventive production processes into the definition of patentability.

are ideas or theories patentable?

Thoughts or ideas are not patentable. Theories nor services can be patented either. And when bodies, i.e. human or animal, are subject of some sort of treatment, the treatment itself can not be protected by a patent.

In Europe 'computer software' is not patentable yet. Discussions on its patentability are still going on but for the time being, software can not be patented separately. When software is inextricably bound to a product applying for a patent can be successful though.

informational value of patents

The name of the inventor and the patent applicant are always present in the patent application. Furthermore a patent application must give a clear description of the invention. Drawings are frequently used to illustrate the invention. The most important part of a patent application is the paragraph containing the claims. Patent claims exactly describe what is being claimed as invention by the inventor or patent applicant.

By its nature a patent application contains a lot of useful and free information. And is is a fact that almost 80% of all technological information can be found in patent publications. Quite often this information has not been published elsewhere, not even in scientific publications.

infringement of a granted patent, then what?

A patent right is an exclusive right. Infringement is not tolerated and is illegal. When infringement of a patent right is known, the patent owner can successfully take legal actions towards the one infringing his patent rights.

patent applications and innovation

Patent publications are very useful as they all present concise descriptions of new technological issues that can be used by anyone after the patent application has been published. This feature of patent publications can be most useful in innovation processes. Free access to a technological knowledge base of the size of the now existing patent literature, offers a tremendous reservoir of creative technological solutions. When more patents are applied for in the same technological field they might point at a so called emerging technology.

It will be clear that searching patent literature is very useful. Patents not only protect intellectual property but serve as a technological thermometer as well. And, patent publications can be freely accessed through internet databases of the European Patent Office and the USPTO. There is no need to be a patent owner yourself to enjoy the knowledge freely presented to you by some 60 million patent publications that are available today. So use patent publications when innovating or when searching for the technological developments of your competitors.

Have a look at Espacenet or the United States Patent Office.

patent applications and technological trends

The International Patent Classification (IPC) is the main tool for retrieving patent publications from public patent databases. Over 60 million patent publications can be searched online through the patent databases maintained by EPO and the USPTO. Both organizations still use their own classification schemes as well but the IPC is a leading principle in either of them. EPO and the USPTO are on creating a patent classification scheme that will share the best of both patent classification schemes.

By counting patent publications over time in distinct technological fields (i.e. IPC-classifications), technological trends emerge from the data retrieved. So patents protect intellectual property but at the same time offer a unique opportunity to serve as unit of counting to visualize technological developments by country, time period or even industrial sector.

knowledge protection, technological trends and the costs of patenting

Patent Vista concentrates on three aspects of patenting, i.e. patents as a means of protecting intellectual property rights, as a means of visualizing technological trends and on the costs of patenting. To administer the costs of patenting Patent Vista created a databank containing patent fees from all over the world. The patent fee databank is frequently updated.

patent information covers all technological fields

Patent Vista cannot and will not strive for full coverage of the entire field of patenting issues. That would be impossible. Patents, patent information and technological trends based on patenting activities are rather broad areas to cover. It is for this reason that some patent issues are not dealt with or just in a limited way.

Whenever you detect an omission or a mistake, please do not hesitate to contact the webmaster and send him your remarks. He and future users will be most grateful for any improvement made to Patent Vista.