the first account of a "patent system" in the ancient greek city of sybaris (destroyed in...
TRANSCRIPT
The first account of a "patent system"
In the ancient Greek city of Sybaris (destroyed in 510 BC), leaders decreed:
"If a cook invents a delicious new dish, no other cook is to be permitted to
prepare that dish for one year.
During this time, only the inventor shall reap the commercial profits from his
dish. This will motivate others to work hard and compete in such
inventions."
Senate of Venice, 1474:
"Any person in this city who makes any new and ingenious
contrivance, not made heretofore in our dominion, shall, as
soon as it is perfected so that it can be used and exercised,
give notice of the same to our State Judicial Office, it being
forbidden up to 10 years for any other person in any
territory of ours to make a contrivance in the form and
resemblance thereof".
Today:
New to the world (Europe); up to 20 years of protection
Incentive to innovate (grant protection)
Incentive to share knowledge (publish the invention's details)
An early English patent issued in 1617
Optional
Examples of valuable intellectual property
Coca-Cola®
Apple® iPod®
Optional
DNA copying process
Harry Potter
Instant camera
What is a patent?
• A patent is a legal title granting its holder the right to prevent third parties from commercially using an invention without authorisation.
• In return for this protection, the holder has to disclose the invention to the public.
• Protection is granted:
– for a limited period, generally 20 years
– for a specific geographic area
Overview of intellectual property
Legal right What for? How?
CopyrightOriginal creative or
artistic forms
Trade marksDistinctive identification of products or services
Use and/orregistration
Registered designs
Registration*
Patents New inventionsApplication and
examination
Exists automatically
Trade secrets
External appearance
Valuable information not known to the public
Reasonable efforts to keep secret
Some IP found in a mobile phone
Trade marks:• Made by "Nokia"• Product "N95"• Software "Symbian", "Java"
Patents:• Data-processing methods• Semiconductor circuits• Chemical compounds• …
Copyrights:• Software code• Instruction manual• Ringtone• …
Trade secrets:
?
Designs (some of them registered):• Form of overall phone• Arrangement of buttons in oval shape• Three-dimensional wave form of buttons• …
© Nokia
Filing rates at selected patent offices
Optional
Different Patent Procedures for Turkish Inventors
Optional
National with Examination (TPE) National without Examination (TPE)National Utility Model (TPE)
PCT Search (WIPO)-> National (TPE)PCT Search (WIPO)-> PCT Examination (WIPO) -> National (TPE)
EPC (EPO) -> National (TPE)..soon EPC (EPO) -> European Patent , but Turkey?
European Patent Office (EPO) & European Patent Convention (EPC)
European Patent Office
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Our Mission:
As the patent office for Europe,
we support innovation, competitiveness
and economic growth across Europe
through a commitment to high quality
and efficient services delivered under
the European Patent Convention.
The European Patent Convention
The European Patent Convention (EPC) – provides the legal framework for the granting of European patents
via a centralised procedure– establishes the European Patent Organisation
1973 – Diplomatic Conference in Munich ► signature of the EPC by 16 countries
1977 – Entry into force of the EPC in 7 countries - marked as follows
Structure of the European Patent Organisation
The legislative body
made up of delegates from the member states
supervises the activities of the Office
has a specific legislative function
European Patent Organisation
Administrative CouncilEuropean Patent Office
The executive body
responsible for examining European patent applications
36 member states
Austria • Belgium • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany •Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Latvia • Liechtenstein • Lithuania •Luxembourg • Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia • Malta • Monaco • Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania • San Marino • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom
European patent applications and patents can also be extended at the applicant's request to the following states:
Albania • Bosnia-Herzegovina • Serbia
Status: July 2009
Autonomy
• Second largest intergovernmental institution in Europe
• Not an EU institution
• Self-financing, i.e. revenuefrom fees covers operatingand capital expenditure
Number of staff
Munich 3 629
The Hague 2 659
Berlin 276
Vienna 117
Brussels 4
Total 6 685
Around 60% are patent examiners
Status: December 2008
Staff from 32 different countries
Locations
The EPO has offices at
five different locations.
Its headquarters are in Munich.
Munich
• Patent grant procedure
• Appeals
• Quality management
• Administration
• Legal services
• International affairs
The Hague
Patent grant procedure Information management Administration Legal services
Berlin
Patent grant procedure Administration
Vienna
Patent information Administration European affairs
Brussels
• Relations with the European institutions and other organisations/associations
Our role in the European patent system
• We provide patent protection in up to 39 European countries based on a single application in one of the three official languages (German, English, French)
European patent applications can be filed:
– direct with the EPO
– via the national patent offices of the contracting states
– based on an international (PCT) application
• We are also responsible for
– limitation and revocation proceedings by patentees
– opposition proceedings by third parties
– appeal proceedings before the Boards of Appeal
Our role in the international (PCT) system
• We process international patent applications
– we act as a receiving office for international applications (PCT)
– we carry out international search and preliminary examination procedures
Other services
• Free patent information services
– online access to all European patent documents (updated weekly)
– simple online searches in our database of over 60 million patent applications
– helpdesk staffed by experts on the Japanese, Chinese and Korean patent systems
• Training
– conferences
– workshops and seminars
– e-learning
Four key ingredients
Highly skilled examiners
Rigorous controls and commitment to improvement
Comprehensivesearch documentation
QualityThorough and consistent procedures
High skilled examiners
• MSc-PhD engineers and scientists
– high degree of technical expertise
– knowledge of the EPO's three official languages
• Training during first two years
– extensive legal and procedural training
– individual coaching by experienced examiners
• Continuing professional development throughout career
Comprehensive search documentation
• World's largest collection of patent and non-patent literature documents, containing more than 400 million records in over 100 databases and updated daily
• Online access to more than 6 000 journals via the EPO Virtual Library
• New tools and services such as machine translation to extend the range of easily accessible information
• Ongoing efforts to improve the scope and quality of our documentation
Rigorous controls and commitment to improvement
• Up-to-date guidelines and instructions for examiners
• Spot-checks on search reports and patent quality
• Internal quality audits
• Single procedure
– the European Patent Convention provides the legal framework for the granting of European patents
• Systematic approach
– each application is examined by a division of three technically qualified examiners
• Review processes
– each opposition is examined by three technically qualified examiners,at least two of whom will not have been involved in the grant proceedings for the patent
– appeals heard by independent second-instance judiciary (Boards of Appeal)
Thorough and consistent procedures
What does a patent look like?
• Bibliographic information– Inventor, proprietor, date of filing, technology class, etc.
• Abstract – Around 150 words as a search aid for other patent applications
• Description– Summary of prior art (i.e. the technology known to exist)– The problem that the invention is supposed to solve– An explanation and at least one way of carrying out the invention
• Claims– Define the extent of patent protection
• Drawings– Illustrate the claims and description
Structure of the description
• Prior art
– Teapot with one spout
• Drawback of prior art
– Time-consuming
• Problem to solve
– Reduce filling time
• Solution
– Provide a second spout
• Advantage of the invention
– The time needed to fill multiple
cups is reduced
Where to apply for a patent
• National patent offices– National patent valid only in the country where it is granted– Non-residents can also apply for a patent– One year of "priority" for subsequent applications
• European Patent Office– A European patent is equivalent to national patents in the countries where
it is granted (the applicant chooses the countries)
• Via the Patent Cooperation Treaty– Just one application for up to 141 countries– After the initial application phase, the international application leads to
multiple national patent examination procedures– Decisions with cost implications can be delayed until 30-31 months after
filing (e.g. choice of countries to file in)
• There is no such thing as an international patent!
What is patentable (EPC)?
• To be patentable, an invention must:
– have a technical character (e.g. comprise a product, process or apparatus)
– be new
– involve an inventive step
– be industrially applicable
• Some innovations are not patentable under the EPC:
– for example, mathematical methods or formulae, computer programs and business methods are as such not regarded as inventions
– new plant or animal varieties and inventions whose commercial exploitation would be contrary to "ordre public" or morality (e.g. the cloning of human life) are examples of inventions excluded from patentability
The patent procedure at the EPO
ApplicationSearch report
Publicationof application
Publicationof grant
Oppositionperiodexpires
Withdraw?
18 months
Approx. 4-5 years 9 months
Optional
Overview of European patent grant procedure (I)
EuropeanpatentapplicationApplicant
Filing andformalitiesexaminationEPO
Search and searchreport togetherwith preliminaryopinion on patentability
Publication of application and search report
Online access to application file and legal status information
Observations by third parties possible
Public domain
Grant ofEuropean patent
Publicationof patentspecification
Validation in designated states
Refusal or withdrawal of application
Substantiveexamination
Applicant
EPO
Limitation orrevocationproceedingsSubstantive
examinationGrant of European patent
Refusal of application
Oppositionproceedings
Appealproceedings
Overview of European patent grant procedure (II)
Opposition by third parties possible
Publicdomain
Oppositions in 2008
Oppositions were filed against 5% of granted European patents. Over one third of all opposed patents were revoked.
Cost of a national patent application: Germany
InventionApply forpatent
EUR 60 EUR 350
ExaminationPatent attorney
EUR 1 000 to EUR 4 000
EUR 90EUR 70 EUR 70
Annual feesYear 3 4 5
Patent granted!
Total: EUR 1 700 - EUR 5 100
(depending on complexity of patent and extent of applicant's preparation!
Cost of a European patent up to grant
EUR 5 000 patent office fees*
EUR 10 000 patent attorney fees*
EUR 3 000 translations*Protection in (e.g.):
GermanyUnited KingdomFranceItalySpainSwitzerland
Germanpatent
Europeanpatent
* Estimated cost. Actual cost depends very much on the specifics of the individual case.
How patents are used
• Protecting products and processes – Increasing turnover and profits– Attracting investors
• Licensing
• Cross-licensing
• Blocking competitors
• Building reputation
• …
• Not used
Licensing income of US universities
Source: AUTM US licensing survey 2004
Optional
The value of European patents
Patent value
Sha
re o
f pat
ents
, %
Optional
Share of patent value classes in total portfolio value
Just 3% of all patents!
Just 10% of all patents!
Optional
Technical fields with the most filings (2008) - EPO
63 736
Number of applications
Number of applications in 2008
High-growth technical fields (at least 500 applications filed in 2008)
% growth in number of applications 2008 vs. 2007
1 074
522
655
532
737
2 365
735
502
2 109
539
Leading applicants and patentees in 2008
Applications Granted European patents
78 684
62 755
83 548
63 013
0 90 000
2007 2008
Applications filed
Direct European filings
Euro-PCT applications
entering the regional phase
Applications by residence of applicant (2008) - EPO
1995-2008 : All patents in the market – competitors in Turkey
TPE ARACILIGIYLA YAPILAN PATENT BAŞVURULARININ YILLARA GÖRE DAĞILIMI
Yıl Yerli Yabancı
TPE PCT EPC Toplam TPE PCT EPC Toplam
1995 170 0 0 170 1520 0 0 1520
1996 189 0 0 189 687 26 0 713
1997 202 1 0 203 598 730 0 1328
1998 201 6 0 207 596 1680 0 2276
1999 265 11 0 276 524 2220 0 2744
2000 258 19 0 277 442 2714 0 3156
2001 298 39 0 337 119 2756 2 2877
2002 387 27 0 414 88 1335 37 1460
2003 454 35 1 490 43 305 314 662
2004 633 49 3 685 68 167 1342 1577
2005 895 33 7 935 75 143 2308 2526
2006 979 93 18 1090 71 89 3915 4075
2007 1747 60 31 1838 71 139 4141 4351
2008 2159 69 40 2268 68 107 4694 4869
Patent management
• Patent strategy– Offensive/defensive– Internationalisation– Kind of exploitation: licensing or own use
• Patent information– Keep abreast of technology– Avoid infringing patents– Understand the competitive landscape
• Communication– Compile convincing evidence that your patents are valuable– Inform investors and banks, clients and prospective employees
• Maintenance– Pay renewal fees, observe deadlines– Strengthen important patents and get rid of ones with no value
Optional
What not to do when considering filing a patent application
• No publication prior to filing
e.g. no article, press release, conference presentation/poster/proceedings or blog entry
• No sale of products incorporating the invention prior to filing
• No lecture or presentation prior to filing
except under a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)
• Seek professional advice soon!
• File before others do!
NDA
25% of all R&D efforts ...
… are wasted each year on inventions that have already been invented.
Don't start your R&D until you have done a search!
Solutions found in patent documents
10%Protected
90%Free to use
You can find many great solutions for free!
Searching for patents can be easy ...
Free worldwide patent information is available at http://ep.espacenet.com
… but some basic knowledge is needed!
Beware of "naïve" keyword searches such as ...
"Energy storing means"
Spring
"Semiconductor switching
device with a control electrode"
This kind of "jargon" is often used to broaden the scope of the patent ...
Transistor
"Spherical object with floppy filaments"
Toy ball
Sometimes, the applicant simply doesn't want his patent to be found …
how to search for patents:
www.epo.org/wbt/pi-tour
www.epo.org/patents/learning/e-learning.html
. You are frequently cited,..
. Tübitak pays it for you,..
. If the inventor is from University, ...
. We can reach all publications in all languages,..
. PhD students, IP before thesis,..
. Engineering & Intellectual Property Law : not lawyers as attorneys,...
. English, German, French, Japanese, Chinese,..
. Literature Survey & Patent Coverage Survey,..
. Patent also for licensing with a strategy with professional help,..
