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PATENTS |
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A patent is a grant of exclusive rights in an
invention. To be patentable in most jurisdictions, including Canada and the
United States, an invention must be useful and proper subject matter. In addition, it
must be novel and inventive.
An invention is considered to be novel if it was not previously disclosed or
known to the public anywhere in the world. An invention is inventive if it
would not be obvious to an average person working in the field to which the
invention relates, taking into consideration the state of the art on the day
you file your patent application (and in some cases on the date of
invention).
Most countries other than Canada and the United States require that a patent
application be filed before the invention is made public through disclosure
to third parties or through use. Canada and the United States both have independent
grace periods which permit an inventor to file an application up to one year
after the inventor has publicly disclosed the invention.
Hence, to obtain patent protection outside of North America, it is necessary
to file a patent application before there has been any public disclosure of
the invention anywhere in the world, although there are exceptions to this
in some countries. To obtain patent protection only in Canada and the United States,
filing of the application may be done up to one year after public disclosure
of the invention, although it is preferable to file an application as
quickly as possible and before any disclosure of the invention.
To determine whether a particular idea is patentable, we suggest having a
patentability search carried out in either the Canadian or in the United States
Patent Office records.
To determine whether your device might infringe someone else's device, we suggest having an infringement type search carried out in either the
Canadian or United States Patent Offices, or both.
Although a search is not a pre-requisite to filing a patent application, the
cost of a search is considerably less than drafting and filing a patent
application. Accordingly, if a search reveals that an idea has been
disclosed in a prior reference, performing the search will save the expense
of preparing and filing a patent application for an invention for which
patent protection is no longer available.
The cost to draft and file a first patent application in Canada or the
United States depends on the complexity of the invention,and the cost
may also increase if the application requires numerous revisions to
incorporate on-going improvements and modifications.
Several years ago, "provisional" patent applications were introduced as a
cost effective interim measure for seeking rights in an invention. Such an
application merely requires a document which describes the invention,
without the need for claims or other formalities. The provisional's
description must be sufficient to provide support for the claims of the
subsequent complete application without the addition of "new matter". A
complete patent application will usually be prepared within 12 months if
foreign filings are desired. Provisional applications have limitations and
may not always be suitable. The cost of filing a Canadian provisional
application depends on the amount of our involvement you desire in preparing
the provisional document.
Please note that patent applications for all countries in which patent
protection is desired need not be filed right away in many cases. Often,
after filing a first application, you may take advantage of a one year
period within which to file patent applications in other countries. The
costs of filing overseas vary considerably from country to country.
After filing a patent application, there are normally further costs
associated with guiding the application through to the patent grant stage,
such as convincing a Patent Examiner that the application is one for which a
patent should issue. This procedure is referred to as "prosecution" of a
patent application. The prosecution costs will depend on the number of
objections raised by the Patent Examiner and the difficulty encountered in
overcoming these objections. Also, once a patent application is allowed in
Canada or the United States (and in other countries) there is a final issue fee to be
paid. Finally, for Canada and some other countries, annual government
maintenance fees must be paid to prevent an application or issued patent
from expiring prematurely.
It should be noted that the time span between preparing and filing an
application and obtaining the grant of a United States patent is often at
least two years, and longer in Canada.
In order to prevent others from exploiting your idea prior to you seeking
patent protection and to preserve your rights to pursue patent protection
outside of Canada and the United States, it is advisable that you refrain from
disclosing your invention's design to anyone prior to the filing of a patent
application. Any disclosure you make of your idea to other parties should be
protected by a formal confidentiality agreement. |
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FOR
MORE INFORMATION REGARDING TRADE MARKS, PATENTS AND/OR DESIGNS , PLEASE CONTACT:
info@cipalaw.com |
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