With the advancement of technology and time, intellectual property is becoming broader and broader. Within its scope, it includes patents, copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs, and so on. When someone comes up with a new concept, invention, or technology, they attempt to get protection and rights under the umbrella of intellectual property.
What is a Patent?
The name patent derives from the letter patent, which means “open letters.” The crown addressed these articles or letters bearing the great seal of the King of England, which conferred specific rights and privileges on one or more persons.
As time passed, there was a greater need for complete legislation that dealt only with patents, patent rights, and other patent requirements to avoid prejudice and encourage commerce and industrial growth.
Innovation is a mental creation applied to capital and labour to create a new and valuable product. Such innovations become the sole property of the inventor and are referred to as intellectual property. The rights granted to the inventor are known as “intellectual property rights.”
It entails the sovereign offering some advantages, rights, and authority in exchange for a new and valuable creation of a product or technology to produce new or current articles.
The Aim of Obtaining a Patent for an Invention
The patient’s goal is to encourage individuals to create new technology and grow the industry. Patents allow the patentee exclusive rights to his intellectual property and aid in technological advancement in the following ways:
- It promotes innovative innovations and scientific research.
- It persuades an innovator to publicise his creation instead of keeping it a trade secret.
- It incentivises innovators to cover innovation costs until they are economically viable.
- It motivates the innovator to spend resources on innovative technologies to fulfil industrial needs.
Conditions for Patentability
Patentability Criteria differ from country to country depending on the law of the land, and some commonalities exist between them. The patentable, novel invention has utility and differs from skilled users’ expectations. Different countries’ legislative and judicial systems give these standard requirements different shapes.
In India, if an invention is to be eligible for patent protection, it must fulfil certain conditions.
These requirements notably include patentable subject matter, industrially applicable and new (novel) that exhibits a sufficient inventive step for the invention disclosed in the patent application to encounter specific standards.
These criteria are interpreted in India as follows:
1: Patentable Substance
An innovation must fall within the area of patentable subject matter to be eligible for patent protection. The patentable subject matter is created by legislation and described in terms of patentability search exceptions, with the general rule being that patent protection is accessible for inventions in all disciplines of technology.
2: Novelty
Novelty is a prerequisite for patentability and essential in any content evaluation.
It may only use a patent to safeguard new inventions. If innovation is not a part of state of the art, it is regarded as new.
A new invention is one that was not predicted by the prior art. In general, “prior art” refers to all information before the relevant filing or priority date of a patent application, whether disclosed in writing or orally.
However, the most significant condition is that an invention will not typically be patentable if:
- Before the applicant applied for patent protection, the public was aware of the invention;
- Before the applicant applied for patent protection, the invention was detailed in a printed publication; or
- Before the applicant applied for patent protection, an invention was disclosed in a published patent application or a patent already granted.
3: Non-obvious Requirement
An invention is considered new if it differs moderately from existing goods or procedures (referred to as “prior art”). The patent legislation, however, also stipulates that an invention must be a non-obvious advance over the prior art for it to be patentable.
The new invention changes, and to determine whether it would have been clear to someone with ordinary skill in the kind of technology utilised, the invention is compared to the previous art. According to the law, the innovation had to be evident before applying the submission.
In most circumstances, it is helpful to consider three factors while evaluating creative steps:
- The issue to resolve;
- 2. The answer to the issue; and
- 3. The invention’s advantageous effects concerning prior art, if any.
4: Invention Disclosure
Whether the invention properly describes in the application is another condition for patentability. The invention must be sufficiently evident in the application for a person with the necessary technical knowledge to implement it. The description must include at least one method of implementing the invention. If applicable, should do this using examples and concerning any included illustrations. Third parties can raise objections to granting a patent.
5: Utility or Usefulness
It is an additional requirement for issuing patents. A fresh, non-obvious invention must also be beneficial and have an industrial application.
According to the patent law, the subject matter must be “useful.” It implies that there must be a practical utility for the invention. The utility criterion is typically readily satisfied in computer and electrical technology. When seeking to patent a pharmaceutical or chemical compound, the condition is particularly crucial since it is required to define a useful or particular application for the new component.
Conclusion
Intellectual property includes any production, invention, idea, or creative work that is the outcome of a person’s mind. The rights granted to that individual for his creation, work, idea, or invention are known as intellectual property rights. A patent is one kind of intellectual property.
PATHtoIP® is a prominent organisation that provides superior intellectual property services through an experienced team of IP consultants that have empowered several inventors and organisations. PATHtoIP® specialists will do extensive research using the information you supply to determine the availability of any patentability requirements.
Being mindful of the expense, PATHtoIP® takes steps to keep costs as low if possible and provides advice on the best approach to proceed with any necessary revisions to your trademark application.