WHY ARE PATENTS IMPORTANT?

“A patent is a granted technical property right for an invention that is new, inventive and commercially applicable, measured against the state of the art. In addition to their monopoly effect, patents therefore have a strong significance with regard to the perception of innovation of a company by other market participants such as customers. As granted patents are publicly accessible, a company can also monitor the market environment in which it operates. On the one hand, this avoids falling into so-called property right traps because you may be infringing a patent that has already been granted. Above all, however, such market monitoring also serves as a source of inspiration for your own developments. PROBAT carries out professional patent monitoring and therefore knows exactly about the status of technical developments in its own market.“

WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF VALIDITY OF PATENTS?

“Patents are generally only valid in the country in which the patent was granted. The patent holder may then prohibit any third party from using the patent in any way within the territorial scope of validity. It may not be produced, distributed, offered or imported. However, if a third party uses the patent outside the territorial scope without affecting it, the patent proprietor has no right to prohibit such use. But the so-called Union Priority Right, to which almost all countries worldwide are party, grants the patent proprietor a twelve-month protection period from the date of the priority application (date of the first application for a patent) in order to check in which other countries a patent application may be useful and thus protects him against patent infringements.”

HOW DOES PROBAT PROCEED WITH THE COUNTRY REVIEW?

“PROBAT naturally looks first and foremost at where its own market is located in order to protect itself from patent infringement by competitors. This also applies to countries where important trade fairs are held or where suppliers are based. For PROBAT as a globally operating company, this is a complex procedure, but one that is greatly simplified by the international patent application. From this, the patent can be validated, i.e. continued, in almost all countries of the world and it is not necessary to check within the priority year in which countries the patent should also be applied for. In addition, there are further agreements at European level. There is a wide range of possibilities, and at PROBAT the procedure is decided on a case-by-case basis.“

SO THERE IS NO PATENT STRATEGY?

“As a general rule, an invention should always be patented if it can be easily copied and cannot be kept secret. Furthermore, markets change, which is why PROBAT always focuses on the individual case when deciding whether to apply for a patent in a particular region. Patent usage rights can also be passed on via license fees. This can certainly influence the procedure. However, making the wrong decisions can very quickly become very expensive, as annual and translation fees are due in each country and the costs increase exponentially.“