Pages

Friday, 3 May 2013

How to patent an invention

1) What is an invention?
An invention means a new product or process involving an inventive step and capable of industrial application.
2) What is a patent?
The Indian Patents Act 1970 defines a patent as a grant or right to exclude others from making, using or selling one's invention and includes the right to license others to make, use or sell it.
3) What cannot be considered as inventions?
Laws of nature
Physical phenomena
Abstract ideas
Literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works (these can be Copyright protected.
Inventions which are:
a) Not useful (such as perpetual motion machines); or
b) Offensive to public morality
4) What are the stages of a successful invention?
a) Identifying a problem that needs to be solved.
b) Inventing a solution for that problem, which should work.
c) Developing a prototype or being able to demonstrate the invention to show its working.
d) Filing a patent application to protect the invention so that it can be disclosed to other people.
e) Arranging the manufacturing and marketing (production) of the invention either through one's own company or through licensing.
f) Each stage requires its own particular expertise and resources. It is essential that the early stages are satisfactorily completed before moving on.

5) What is the process of patenting an invention?
The process of patenting an invention-
Applying for a patent-
1. File a preliminary application
2. Recording the priority date (The date on which the application is recorded)
Noting the Patent specifications-
1. A patent specification is written in a certain format, which may not be immediately obvious to the casual reader.
2. The specification should contain a preamble, which describes the background to the invention.
3. Then you will have to write a statement of invention, which is a legal statement of the scope of the monopoly sought.
4. After this you will have to give a detailed description of the invention which may include drawings and examples.
5. The last step in patent specification is specifying the claims where the patent maker ‘claims’ a territory of technology within which other people cannot stray without infringing the patent.
Eg: Introducing a new type of flavor has a very broad scope where as improving a flavor has comparatively lesser scope in relation to patenting.

Examination of the patent by the examiners
     The examiners look through the previous patent specifications and other literature in  order to ascertain the nobility of the invention.
They also see to the ‘inventiveness’ in comparison to the prior art.
The examiner will then correspond with the patent agent if he is satisfied that the claims are permit able.
Prosecution : the stage of patenting the procedure
The specification filed by the applicant is usually published after 18 months, after the date of priority.
The Patent Office will also publish a list of previous patents, which were found to be of relevance in the patent search so that even if an inventor has not disclosed the invention in any way up to this point, the patent system itself will make a disclosure and destroy its novelty at this time.

Documents required for filing a patent form
1. Application Form (form 1)
2. Specification (Provisional/Complete) [Form 2]
3. Drawings (if any)
4. Undertaking under section 8 (form 3)
5. Power of Authority (if the patent application is filed through a patent attorney) 

Patenting of traditional knowledge
Traditional knowledge is the knowledge that is continually developed, acquired, used, practiced, transmitted and sustained by the communities/individuals through generations.

In India traditional knowledge including the existing oral knowledge cannot be protected under the provisions of the existing IPR laws/acts. Until and unless there is a substantial improvement in the existing traditional knowledge and if it can fulfill the requirements of the definition of the invention, then the patent application can be filed. Example of such traditional knowledge is Ayurveda medicine.

Article prepared by Anisha Susan Baby

No comments:

Post a Comment