Patents

Question 1

What is a patent

Answer 1

Ideas are at risk of being copied

Patents are a form of legal protection

In exchange of making the details of their interventions public

Builds a knowledge base that encourages other inventions and advances in technology for development
Last for a set time - 20 years

Question 2

What are the criteria that must be fulfilled before a patent can be granted?

Answer 2

1. Product = new and not shown or discussed publicly prior to the patent application being filed
2. Must involve and inventive step
3. Must be capable of being industrially made - take a physical form of a substance, product or industrial process
4. It was not to be excluded by the patents office

Question 3

What does an inventor need to do supply applying for a patent?

Answer 3

Designer must first prove that an invention is theirs

Provide details of the product sufficient to be made by a third party

Includes technical drawings

Question 4

What rights to patents provide?

Answer 4

Designer will then have rights of ownership of the design

Invention is the legal property of the inventor
It can be sold.

Or others can make it with permission

Legal action can be taken against anyone trying to copy without permission

Question 5

Why can seeking a patent for an individual inventor be risky?

Answer 5

X Patents are expensive
X Inventor must present idea to potential
funding bodies
X Inventors are vulnerable as they need
money
X Designs are at risk of being copied after
presentation

To challenge an infringement of a painting one must go through court

Question 6

Why may some companies choose not

Answer 6

Hope that being the first to release the product

will allow them to capture a large market share

before rivals develop a competing product