Why Patents Are Essential to Business
Patents and new technology go hand in hand. In the busy and highly competitive start-up arena, New Tech needs funding , and nobody wants to invest only to find someone else doing the same thing (worse still if it’s better).
For example, if there’s anything you should remember from BBC2's Dragons’ Den, it’s that when asked if you have a patent for your business venture, the answer had better be yes.
Why have Apple and Samsung spent so much time and money on high profile patent battles? Why was the recent decision by Tesla to free its patents on electric car technology considered revolutionary? Why do so many adverts talk about “revolutionary patented technology”?
The short answer: patents protect your business
Patents are, along with other key Intellectual Property rights, a monopoly right, meaning it gives you the right to stop someone else from using your idea. This makes patents a shield, protecting your business from direct competition.
A patent is best seen as a contract between the patent owner and a country’s government where the government pledges to support the patent owner in legal actions against copycats. This is enforced through courts, with the key aim of stopping the person copying (infringing) in their tracks by what is known as an injunction.
Patents can define your business
The patent itself is not just a dull legal document. It’s very carefully put together to set out how your invention is protected (what you get out of it) and how it is described in detail (what everyone else gets out of it once it has expired). Patent applications have to:
- Make a case for the novelty of your invention
- Set boundaries for your exclusive use of the technology
These patent boundaries (i.e. how closely someone can and cannot ‘copy’ your invention) are set out in the “Claims” section, and it is this section which is vital to get right, as any competitor worth their salt will tread as close to these boundaries as possible.
Having boundaries set out in your application also demonstrates the potential breadth of you business/invention and can be invaluable when attracting partners.
Why do patents exist?
The patent system was designed to acknowledge and encourage invention & commercialisation, as well as to add to the ever growing stockpile of scientific knowledge as every patent has to be published.
By publishing the patent, the patent applicant contributes to the communal knowledge base. This effectively “seals the contract” with the government, which in return uses its Court system to enforce the patent against infringers.
It’s an obstacle course
What are the downsides of pursuing a patent? On the face of it, the cost and complicated nature of the whole patent process, especially if you want to protect your invention in several countries. This blow is somewhat softened by international agreements — conventions such as WIPO’s PCT — which help in the early stages of the patent process to delay the final selection of territories you want IP protection in.
It’s important to realise this, as before your patent has the necessary force to be used against an infringer, it has to be granted. However, if your main aim is to get partners on board, most investors or collaborators will simply want to see that you have got the process started, and the very first stage is relatively straightforward — and cheap!
Setting the record straight
There have been numerous patent disputes over the years as competitors fight out over where these boundaries lay stretching back to sewing machines and steam engines, through to instant cameras, Pringles and even recently to selfie-sticks.
At the heart of each of these disputes has been the use of a patent to establish ownership of an invention, and the need for patent to have the teeth to ward off predators.
Thinking of applying?
What do you have to do? Well, it’s about what you don’t do! Don’t talk to to anyone about your invention until it’s protected, at least not without a secrecy (confidentiality) agreement. This can really hold up discussions with potential partners for your business idea, so you need to set the wheels in motion to get patent protection.
How you go about doing this will be the subject of my next post…watch this space!
Jeremy Holmes is IP & Due Diligence Manager at Imperial Innovations, with extensive experience as an in-house patent attorney for ICI/Astra Zeneca and Reckitt Benckiser. Jeremy is in charge of managing IP and Patent Searching resources and to ensure due diligence is carried out on investment opportunities. He also acts as an internal consultant on IP issues.
