Specifically, a patent gives its owner the right to exclude others from making, using, marketing, selling, or importing a patented object.
A patent is a technical and legal text that comprises a technical description and drawings illustrating the invention and a set of “claims” defining the scope of protection.
The time limit for extending a patent application in other countries is one year from its filing date.
The duration of a patent is twenty years from the application filing date, provided the annual maintenance fees are paid.
Upon expiration of a patent, the inventor loses its own exclusive rights, the invention becomes public domain and can be commercially exploited by anybody.
In Europe, a software can be patented if it interacts with the physical reality to solve a technical problem; a software that processes data without producing a technical effect outside the computer wherein it works is not patentable.
In order to extend a patent abroad, any of the following paths can be followed:
In Italy, new models that improve the effectiveness or ease of application or use of machines or parts thereof, instruments, tools, or objects of use in general, such as new models consistent of particular shapes, arrangements, configurations, or combinations of parts, are protectable as utility models.
It is also said that there is an invention whenever a novel product is implemented, whereas there is a utility model whenever an already existing product is improved.
In order to be eligible for utility model protection, it is necessary that the device to be protected meets the requirements of novelty and inventive step, as for the invention patent, as well as the requirement of industrial application.
The time limit for extending a utility model application to other countries is one year from its filing date.
The maximum duration of a utility model is ten years from the date of filing of the application, and maintenance fees are due for the second fiver-year period.
An invention shall not be made accessible to the public in the form of publications, marketing, advertising, etc. before the filing date of the patent application.
Any disclosures of the invention prior to the filing of the application shall be grounds for invalidation of the patent.
The time limit to extend an invention patent application abroad is 12 months from the patent application filing date.
Yes, it is, within eighteen months from the filing date of the application, but only if the latter was filed without requesting advanced accessibility to the public and if the subject matter of the patent had never been disclosed. The initial filing priority right will not be enjoyed and the protection will be effective from the date when it is actually filed abroad.
An invention patent has a maximum duration of 20 years from the filing date of the application, provided the annual maintenance fees are regularly paid (in Italy, starting from the fifth year after filing).
A patent search helps in determining whether your idea is new, hence potentially patentable, or if it would infringe an existing patent.
A search might also be an easy monitoring tool for evaluating competitors in a given sector and be of great help in the research, development, and creation phases, helping to prevent waste of time and useless duplication.
A patent application shall be drawn up following given legal rules, hence it is advisable to contact a qualified patent attorney.
If there are collaborations before the patent application is filed (for example, in the case of designers not being part of the company), it is very important to regulate this collaboration through confidentiality agreements.
These two patent rights offer exactly the same protections and the same rights. A utility model expires after ten years, whereas an invention patent expires after twenty years.
A utility model is often considered as “a small invention”, whose patent is granted without a prior examination of the requirements for patentability.
In Italy, it is possible to convert an invention patent application into a utility model and vice versa.
The time limit to extend a utility model application abroad, while retaining the same priority date, is twelve months from the date the initial application is filed.
Yes, it is, within eighteen months from the application filing date, but only if the latter was filed without requesting advanced accessibility to the public and the subject matter of the model has never been disclosed.
The initial filing priority right will not be enjoyed and the protection will be effective as from the filing date abroad.
