If you are an inventor, scientist, designer, or artist – you should legally protect your unique work. Regardless of whether you are one step from a huge discovery or you just want to protect your brand – it is clear that the laws related to patents and the protection of intellectual property can help you. The value of patents is huge for so many reasons. Some of them we will mention in the text below so you can understand the importance of filling for protection.
How to Distinguish Patents From Other Types of Intellectual Property?
source:inc.com
Today, we consider many things as intellectual property. That can be a piece of art, a song, a website design, and many other things. However, patents are a specific category of intellectual property. Namely, patents are obtaining an exclusive right granted by the state for an invention. Of course, the invention itself must meet specific criteria. It must be inventive, applicable, and original. This way, the inventor can be secured as a patent holder. That gives him a chance to later establish massive production of his invention – or to stop copying and selling products based on his invention that do not have his approval.
A Patent is Valuable in Business
We must emphasize that a patent is a powerful business tool that allows inventors to acquire the exclusive right to a new product or production process. This way, inventors can take a strong market position and obtain additional income through licensing. It doesn’t always have to be a finished product that will be patented and put on the market. Sometimes, it can be just some components of the product. Many complex products, such as mobile phones, cameras, etc., may contain elements or parts patented as inventions – or even several of them. Those components are the property of some other patent holders – and therefore, their inventors own a license for them and monetize their invention.
Reasons Why You Should Consider Protecting Your Invention
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Increasingly massive production and growing competition put enormous pressure on companies to be innovative. Therefore, many of them try to employ young inventors – or gain access to the innovations of other inventors or companies. This way, modern companies try to remain competitive in the market.
If it is difficult for you to go through the entire patenting procedure on your own, take a look at this website, and you will see that there are companies that deal with it professionally. Namely, they provide you with full legal and consulting assistance, which will be valuable to you in that case. The rights secured by a patent are often crucial for the prosperity of companies – and especially in innovative industries, such as the IT industry and the like. Since today we live and work in a challenging and sometimes risky business environment – patenting an invention is extremely important – and here are some key reasons to consider filing for protection.
1. Reducing the risk of infringement of your intellectual property rights
When you protect your invention with a patent, you obtain certain rights. These rights protect you from the possibility of someone else patenting the same invention. Also, having patent protection will help you reduce the possibility of infringing the rights of other inventors when you commercialize your products. Although the patent does not ensure the so-called freedom of use – it prevents others from protecting the same or similar invention as yours. At the same time, the patent is a significant indicator that the particular invention is new, more advanced – and significantly different from previous ones similar to it.
2. A patent is a powerful tool in the fight against counterfeiters
To effectively enforce the exclusive rights of a recognized licensed patent – it is sometimes necessary to litigate with possible infringers. Ownership of a patent significantly strengthens your ability to take successful legal action against copycats and counterfeiters of a protected invention.
3. Strong market position and advantage over competitors
A patent gives its holder the exclusive right to prevent or stop anyone else from making commercial use of the recognized invention. That reduces uncertainty, risk, and competition from forgers and copycats. If you own the rights or a license on a valuable invention – you will have the chance to ensure that competitors with the same invention are banned from entering the market. This will help you become a dominant player in the respective market.
4. Greater profit or return on investment
source:youngandtheinvested.com
If you or your company have invested a significant amount of time and money in research and development – protecting the realized invention with a patent can help cover costs and ensure a higher return on investment.
5. Additional profit from licensing or transfer of patent rights
As a patent holder, you can license your right to an invention to others in exchange for a one-time fee or payment of a license fee. That way you can generate additional profit for your business. Selling or transferring rights on a patent implies the transfer of ownership – and licensing implies granting permission to use the licensed invention under certain conditions.
6. Access to new markets
Licensing patents or even filing a patent application – can do wonders for your business. Namely, something like that can give your company access to new markets, which are otherwise inaccessible to you. To achieve this, the invention must also be protected in the appropriate foreign market or markets.
7. Greater possibility to obtain subsidies
Ownership of a patent or permission to use another rights holder’s patent – can strengthen your ability to raise funds to bring your product to market. In some fields, like, for example, biotechnology – it is often necessary to have a strong patent portfolio to attract investors ready to invest.
How Much Does it Cost to Protect an Invention With a Patent?
Costs vary significantly from country to country and within a national framework depending on factors such as the nature of the invention, its complexity, attorney’s fees, etc. It is significant to keep this in mind and provide funds for the costs of the patent application and its maintenance.
