Intellectual Property #2 Flashcards
Conditions of validity for a valid patent?
- excluded subject matter
- Novelty
- Inventiveness
- Industrially Applicable
- Enabling disclosure
Descibe 0. excluded subject matter
1) Things with no technical character or non-inventions
* discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods “as such”
* aesthetic creations “as such”
* schemes, rules and methods for performing mental acts, playing games
or doing business “as such”
* computer programs “as such”
* presentations of information “as such”
2) excluded inventions that are contrary to public order
cloning people, inventions for terrorist objectives
plant varieties and animals varieties, because food has to be available to all people (unless microbial processes / products thereof)
these things might change over time
Diagnostic methods and methods for treatment (unless substances for use / compositions for use in such methods
What are the requirements for technical character
-must be related to a techincal field
-must be related to a technical problem
- must have technical features
Types of inventions
Product and methods
what must a invention have
technical character
Desribe 1. Novelty
- novelty considerers the state of the art at the date of filing the patent
- state of the art can be anything. books, journal, television, posters, oral description, boasting about your research at the reception of a conference..
- it also includes unpublished patents up until 18 months of the date of filing
- we take perspective from the person skilled in the art
- the scope of the state of the art for EU is worlwdide and for US it might only be the US
theoretical accessibility suffices (remember example of lecture) - concept of absolute novelty vs relative novelty
- right of priority
- compact novelty (novelty matrix)
- general disclosure does not prevent the novelty of a specific example; specific example does prevent a general claim that contains the specific example
- in case of disclosure despite the obligation to remain secrecy ofcourse the disclosure is not novelty destroying (NDA)
18 months?
related to the state of the art with respect to novelty, company A files patent. After 18 months it’s published(publicly available). If company B also files patent in those 18 months, the UNPUBLISHED patent of A will be taken into account as state of the art.
However if A withdrew their application before publication, it is NOT taken into account anymore.
explains relative novelty and absolute novelty
Absolute novelty: Applies to the EU. disclosure by inventor are taken into account. So inf the inventor discloses their invention (at a conference for example, that is novelty-destrpying. Exception to this rule is when
1) there is abuse by the employee: so for example, if your employee leaves the company and discloses all the information to the competitor and takes all ideas and invention. then the company has a period of 6 months to file a patent for the disclosed information that was disclosed by the employee.
2) world exhibition of invention, to incentive people to go to world exhibitions and show their stuff.
relative novelty: Applies to the US. if you as inventor discloses invention, you have 12 months to file a patent, whatever you said in that period is not novelty-destroying.
Desribe NDA
NDA
before you enter in strategic partnership, keep things confidential to prevent invention losing novelty status.
Need to define confidential information as broadly as possible (clinical data, regular data, drawings, designs, to avoid ways out for the other party
unilateral NDA: A and B , only information flows from A to B. reciprocal : information flows in both ways. In a unilateral NDA, the information flowing from B to A is not protected. So, you don’t want that if you are going to work at a company.
Need to have clear sanctions on when to confidentiality is broken, so the information is disclosed even though there was requirement of confidentiality.
also needs to be clear about what happens if the contract is broken, does the NDA last forever? does one need to delete everything from their computer e.t.c.?
unilateral vs reciprocal NDA
Unilateral: only 1 flow of information is protected (A to B) Reciprocal: Both flows of information are protected (From A to B and from B to A)
Describe right of priority and how is it related to novelty and territoriality
in the beginning, a company can want only a patent in 1 country, but later wants to also file patents in other companies. IF the rules would apply without the right of priority, then if you would file a patent in Belgium, it gets published, and THEN you would file for a patent in Germany, the published patent is novelty destroying.
So right of priority: gives 12 months where you can extend the countries where you want so you have to time to think about what territory you want and where you want protection without that disclosures in the meantime from another 1 of your patent applications, is novelty destroying.
applies to patents –> 12 months
applies to trademarks –> 6 months
Compact novelty
there is ONLY a problem with novelty if there is a document on which EVERY single technical feature is disclosed. if atleast 1 technical feature differs, the invention is novel.
Assessement of novelty?
- What technical features does the invention have?
- What technical features do the prior art documents have?
- Can all technical features of the invention be found in a
single prior art document?
whose perspective are we taking novelty
the person skilled in the art
What state of the art are we looking at
EU: worwlide and the closest prior art
