Only by patenting your idea can you obtain the exclusivity right about it. In order to patent an idea You will have to prepare several documents, following the formality with which the administration works. Your idea will be patented only if it meets the appropriate documentation and also meets the requirements of novelty, inventive step and industrial application.
Patents are called territorial rights that are owned by an idea so they must be protected by registering a patent in all those countries where protection is desired. Commonly, the patent is processed at the national level and it is expanded depending on the commercial success that the idea manages to achieve.
What people generally wonder ishow can i patent an idea?, let's be quite clear, not all inventions, ideas or innovations are acceptable to be patented since for an invention to have the right to be protected as a Patent they must meet the following requirements:
- Inventive step: the technical solution cannot be clearly obvious.
- New: the invention must be innovative.
- Industrial application: it has to be affordable to manufacture.
To know if our invention completes the previous requirements, we must take the first step in the stage of research projects.. This step consists of analyze and investigate whether there are existing patent documents, related in any substantial way to our invention. These documents can be acquired by consulting the public patent databases, some of these are the OEPM, EPO, USPTO among others, which will provide crucial information regarding the innovation in novelty and activity of our idea.
After the investigation carried out, we can find ourselves in different situations: one is that all have been fulfilled the requirements and we can request the Patent by paying the respective fees, another is that it does not meet the requirements and the idea has to be discarded, and eventually it may meet them, but our invention must be protected by the Utility Model method rather than as a Patent.
The second step in patenting an invention is to prepare in advance and write a descriptive memory, that complies with the parameters established in the Patent Regulations. This report must contain a clear description of the invention to be patented, highlighting the novelty and innovation of the idea or product. This memory should be drawn up based on the current and current Patent Law. You are probably wondering how memory is made up, then it is explained in detail.
The report is made up of the following parts:
- Description
- Summary
- Figures
- Claims
Once the writing of the descriptive memory of the idea, we will be ready to move on to the third and final step, Procedure. This consists basically of complement and prepare the patent application forms, pay the established official commissions and submit all the documentation to the Spanish office of the patents and brand (OEPM) with location in Madrid, being able to do it online as well as a digital user certificate. As soon as all the previously required documentation has been submitted, we will finally obtain our patent number, acquiring from that moment, the rights of exclusivity and privacy over the invention, or idea that has been patented.
In short, you have to define the brand and the image that you will propose to use as a distinctive, then proceed to determine in which market you want to operate, as mentioned above, it must be officially verified that the trademark that you intend to register and use is not previously registered by anyone in the markets of your interest. In addition, it must be verified by means of veridical documentation that the brand is not found in any of the absolute prohibitions of use of the invention in the territory where it is and obviously that it does not have a bad sounding meaning.
A very important point to consider is that patents as such are territorial rights and the invention will be protected only in the country where it has been registered, but from the moment we obtain our application date, there is a period of 12 months to extend the protection of the idea or invention to any other country.
Are my industrial property rights protected by the patent?
The most appropriate thing is that you go to a professional or specialist, who supports you in the very particular nature of this right; You can also go directly to the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office in Madrid, where you will receive complete information about the scope you have when patenting your idea locally.
Is it expensive to register a trademark and patent a product?
The time it took and the cost of the process will depend on the territory or number of different countries in which it is available to register, but we can establish an average term for trademarks of 12 to 18 months, while in the case of patents this time can be doubled.
Regarding the cost that the record operation You also have to differentiate between trademark and patent and, above all, territories or countries where you want to register.
For example, a brand in Spain can cost around 500 euros and a patent ranges between 2.000 euros, of course with the respective cost of professional advice. Both prices are quite cheap if we think a little that the registrations imply the exclusivity of use and exploitation, in the case of a trademark it will be of an indefinite nature and in the case of patents it will last 20 years, always continuing to pay the fees annually.
After knowing the prices you may be wondering:
Why should I patent my idea, if I can sell my products without registering the trademark?
La competitive advantage that offers to register your trademark, which is derived from the exclusive right granted by the nation in which it is registered. It also works as distinctive of its products and services and differentiates itself from the competition by giving it a seriousness y commitment with the market, registering the trademark serves in turn, to be able to to stalk to imitators and plagiarists of the products or services you have registered, and to be able to Sue them with complete freedom, otherwise, the competition can register your product if they are not and steal your brilliant idea.
In this sense, it must be made very clear that the legal registration of trademarks or patents is the only valid means that can be possessed to demonstrate ownership of a concept or idea of industrial and commercial application. Patents in a nutshell are a property title and as such allow the inventor to carry out relevant negotiations based on the session of exploitation rights on the idea that the patent is protecting.
In Spain there are two types of Submissions with which you can protect your idea: Utility models and Patents Here are the most particular differences:
Utility Models:
Utility models ask for very similar requirements to patents, but somewhat less stringent, these are used to protect inventions of a lower inventive degree. These are considered particularly suited for SMEs that are constantly making minor improvements to their existing products. The Utility Models process is very fast and does not include the preparation of other reports.
How to apply for a utility model?
The request must be made through a technical document or memory of the invention, which must be accompanied by the respective application forms and the corresponding fees. Undoubtedly, the writing of the memory of invention should be entrusted to expert engineers in the field who can describe the idea or product very explicitly for its registration.
They grant 10-year protection and the first year of free international protection, which can be extended to an additional 18 months, by means of a PCT application.
Patent:
By means of a patent, a new procedure, a new product, a new device or an improvement of one of the previous ones can be protected. The patent process includes the completion of a detailed research report in the official databases of the current patents registered in the world called: State of the art report.
Patents provide protection for the idea for 20 years and the first year of free international protection that can be extended for an additional 18 months, by means of a PCT application.
Can a mobile application be patented?
All the mobile applications known as apps, are a computer program that includes multiple creations of diverse nature such as: illustrations, music and in most cases: a brand or trade name.
These artistic creations must be protected in different ways to achieve complete and comprehensive protection.
The Internet is a widely useful tool, which is why many companies dedicate specific search engines to quickly find if a brand or idea is registered in any part of the world. Here below I leave you some.
Google Patent: patent search engine offered by Google.
latipat: search engine for registered patents in Spanish
spacenet: Registered Patent Finder of the European Patent Office.
Young: search engine for registered patents of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office.