A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention and acts as the assurance provided to the inventor that no one can copy the creation.

Here the creation, in general, can be a product or a process that provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem.

A patent provides rights to the ‘Patent holder’ to exclude others from making, using, selling, and importing the invention. So, any patented invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported or sold by others without the patent owner’s consent.

Technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application to get a patent, and the validity of a patent is usually for a limited period.

Keep in mind that patents are territorial rights. It means the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted.

In India, Indian Patent Office is the agency, under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, which administers the Indian law of Patents.

Types of Patents

In general, there are three types of patents.

Design Patents

If your design is uncommon, you can apply for a design patent. Example of a Design Patent: Beverage bottles (Shape of the Coca-Cola bottle) or furniture (such as the kneeling chair).

Plant Patents

Generally used by botanists, the plant patent is used if you have created a new hybrid plant forms.

Example of a Plant Patent: The Smooth Angel rose or drought-tolerant corn.

Utility Patents

Utility registered patent attorney search are applicable for any new invention or discovery or any improvement in an existing product.

Utility patents can protect a process (such as software or method of manufacturing), physical device, a unique assembly (business), and compositions of matter (pharmaceutical).

Example of a Utility Patent: The little green drink stopper Starbucks gives out with its cups.

Patent Statistics

In India, for the year 2019, the patent office on an average examined and issued 228 first examination reports (FERs) per day.

In 2019, a total of 83,226 patent applications were examined, surpassing the total patent applications examined in 2018 (81,406 applications).

Also, the total number of grants in 2019 shot up around 68% as compared to the total number of grants in 2018.

General Procedure For Obtaining a Patent

1. Patent application filing
2. Publication after 18 months
3. Pre-grant opposition
4. Request for examination
5. Examination: Grant or Refusal
6. Publication of grant of patent
7. Post-grant opposition to the grant of patent
8. Decision by controller

Benefits of Patent for a startup:

A patent not only provides protection but helps in withstanding the competition in the existing market.

Investors’ Attention

Having a patent increases the market value and attracts investors to invest their time and money in your company.

Business after a patent registration always gets a good reputation in the market, as patented work sends a strong signal to investors that you are worth their attention.

In short, having a patent makes it easier for you to attract funding for future activities.

Grows Business Valuation

A patent is a sign that you are on the way to do something remarkable. News of having patent rights create chaos (in a good way) in the market and helps in growing the Company Valuation.

A similar thing happened to a Perth-based regenerative medicine firm Orthocell. The company’s share price rose more than 30% in response to the grant of a US patent for its ground-breaking ‘cell factory’ technology.

Keeps Your Competitors Behind

A patent gives you multiple advantages over your competitors.

Even if you are not planning to develop and commercialize your invention, a patent can stop others from creating a product that may compete with your current portfolio.

Effective use of patent blocks competitors out of your market and helps in protecting your profitability. Way back, when the news that a patent had been granted to Apple for a wearable action camera, the shares of GoPro dropped by 15%.

Despite the benefits a patent provides, several difficulties may arise.

Information gets available to the public

Patent application process makes some technical information about your invention publicly available. Sometimes, keeping the details of your invention a secret keeps the competition at bay more effectively.

Time-consuming

The whole Patent process, from application to grant, is very time-consuming and lengthy. Sometimes the market may change, or a newer technology could overtake your invention by the time a patent is granted.

Expensive

The whole patent process is costly. The application for the patent, search of existing patents and a patent attorney’s fees add up to a significant cost.

Keep in mind, the benefits of having a Registered Patent Attorney Search and Company name Registration outweigh the difficulties that come during registering for it.

So, in our opinion, it’s better to get your creation patented.

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