A patent is an intellectual property right that gives ownership rights, but gives the right to prohibit third parties from using a patent right for a limited period (generally 20 years) from a specific date.
Some countries can issue "provisional patents" at the time of registration, and "grace period" to avoid invalidity of patents for inventors who disclosed the invention before submitting a patent with non-confidentiality obligation for one year Advantages of enabling rapid dissemination of technical information while securing the industrial use of the present invention which can be granted. Depending on the country, the first "inventor" or the first "filer" has the priority of a patent.
This patent is valid only in certain areas. Therefore, the patent remains a state. Certain countries (INPI for France, USPTO for US, JPO for Japan) or groups of multiple countries (EPO of 38 European countries, of the PCT application convention for 142 signatories). Therefore, a patent application can cover several countries.
Instead, the invention must be open to the public. In fact, except for special cases, patents are automatically published 18 months after the priority date, ie after the first application.
In addition to the fact that it must be "invention" in order to be patentable, the invention must fulfill three important criteria.
1. It must be a new one. In other words, none of the means (such as in writing, verbally, using) can access the public knowledge. It should not be consistent with the content of the patent that was submitted but has not yet been published.
2. It must be inventive step, that is not clear from the prior art.
3. It must be industrial use. That is, it can be used or manufactured in all kinds of industries including agriculture (excluding arts and crafts).
One company thought that competitors would definitely discover one of its secrets during the period covered by the patent or that the company could not detect the infringement or enforce the right If you have risks and benefits.
Risk: If a competitor finds the same process and obtains a patent on it, the company may be prohibited from using his inventions (at this point it is French law and American law, the other On the publication day). French law also includes an "exclusive private ownership" exception for those who can prove that the invention suspected of patent infringement has actually been violated before the filing date of the patent. In such a case, the operation can continue only for that person in French territory.
Advantages: In the absence of a patent, this method is not published and in theory it can be expected to continue operation indefinitely (in fact, someone probably finds a day, but the duration of protection is long Become). total). This trade secret system, hence non-patented, sometimes used by the chemical industry.
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