Patents are granted for solutions that are new and do not result obviously from the state of the art, that is, taking into account everything that was made public before the date of filing. Unfortunately, not all new technical solutions that meet the requirement of novelty and non-obviousness are patentable. Apart from statutory restrictions on patenting (such exemptions from patent protection for computer programs, mathematical and business methods, plant and animal varieties, treatments, etc.), some technical solutions are simply not profitable to patent protection.
What are the most common mistakes?
A common mistake of developers is to develop technologies that are known or partially known. It is often assumed that if a solution is not available on the market, it can definitely be patented. However, after reviewing the patent literature, it turns out that such a solution or a similar solution has already been disclosed there. And even if it is not protected by a patent, the mere fact of its publication makes it impossible to obtain patent protection.
Therefore, before we make a decision on applying for an invention for protection, we must carefully analyze whether its patenting will be profitable and whether the obtained right is a strong right, the validity of which will be difficult to challenge.
Where to register patent?
The key issue when applying for patent protection is choosing the place where you want to protect your invention. Due to the cost of patent protection, we are unlikely to be able to protect our invention worldwide. If we operate in Poland, then of course we must apply for protection in Poland. In addition, if we conduct or plan to operate abroad, we should apply for patent protection in those countries where our goods or services are delivered or delivered to the market. It is also worth using the help of professional patent attorneys.
We can also apply for patent protection where there is a potential recipient of our technology. For example, if we have a technology that can potentially be sold or licensed in the United States, we should patent protection there, even if we do not intend to implement it there ourselves.
Therefore, it is important to include in your patenting strategy those countries where there is a need for our technology. A good source of information on this subject is the patent literature. By analyzing patent applications in a given field of technology in relation to individual countries, we can indicate those countries in which a given technology develops the most dynamically. While reviewing patent applications, we can also indicate potential recipients of our technology and competitors.