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Patents
The patent system has two intentions. The first is that of encouraging the development of new ideas. It is believed that, in the absence of the opportunity to obtain a monopoly, inventors would be discouraged from spending their own time and effort in developing new ideas when they would be able readily to copy those of others.
The second intention of the patent system is to encourage disclosure of the new idea. The patent document therefore requires a full description of the invention so that other persons can study the invention and possibly move onto yet further inventions.
The first requirement for obtaining a patent is that the invention must relate to a functional invention. Thus the invention must provide some improvement in function of a commercially usable product or process. Examples of items that are not patentable are: methods of medical treatment of human beings (except in USA); computer programs per se; methods of doing business; articles of manufacture that are improved solely in appearance (see Designs); works that consist generally of written documents (see Copyright).
In order to obtain a patent the invention must be new, that is, any public prior use or public document showing or describing the same invention will invalidate a later patent. Some countries, including Canada and USA, allow a grace period of up to one year during which publication or use by the inventor or arising from the inventor is not used against the inventor's patent application.
In addition to the requirement that the invention is new, it is also necessary that the invention not be obvious, that is, a patent should not be granted if the new idea is simply a minor obvious modification of what exists already.
To order a copy of our more detail booklet discussing patents and Industrial Designs, please contact us at info@adeco.com. |
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