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patent
Patents are granted by patent offices. Allowance requires said patents to meet specific conditions concerning form and content.
The task of an entrusted patent attorney is to keep the scope of protection, which is defined by the claims and explained in the description, as large as possible yet in view of known embodiments also as clearly delimited as necessary.
We provide our experience and qualification to support your business by ensuring patents with comprehensive as well as enforceable scope of protection and to assist you in use, supervision and enforcement of your protective rights.
Ask us.
In detail the road to a patent comprises the following milestones...
1) complete request
A request requires claims, which define the claimed subject-matter, a description, designation of the inventor(s) and applicant and the required documents and fees.
In principle anyone may prepare and file such a request.
Entrusting a patent attorney with the request will provide you with a text, that is well-founded in its structure and technical content. It will define your idea with an enforceable, judicial structure and sensible scope of protection.
A patent office will grant you a day of filing for a complete, initial request. Said day may be claimed as filing-day for a protective right concerning the same invention in other countries for a period of 12 months beginning with said filing-day.
2) research / examination
Examiners of technological expertise will check your request in view of the requirements and exceptions given by the law and will provide an official letter containing the result.
Said requirements comprise....
- Novelty: Your idea must not be known in the prior art.
- Inventiveness: Yor idea must be based on an inventive step.
This requirement is of qualitative nature, i. e. your idea should not be trivial and/or obvious in view of prior art. - industrial applicability: The patent will protect your idea only as far as its industrial applicability is concerned. A subject-matter, that is not industrially applicable, will not be protecteable by a patent.
Subsequently the office will give the applicant/inventor the opportunity, to clarify and/or delimit the claimed invention in view of the prior art.
3) grant of a patent
If all requirements are met, the office will grant a patent for the respective country.
4) fees
Applications and requests require the payment of fees.
Usually a patent may be kept in force until the end of a 20-year period, beginning with the respective day of filing.
During said period the patent is kept in force by paying increasing annual fees.