What are the benefits of Patent filing?
The way you safeguard your idea determines whether it remains private or becomes public knowledge. If you don’t take any action to protect your intellectual property, anybody can replicate and profit from it, including those who may have stolen the idea from you in the first place. Filing a patent gives you the ability to secure ownership of your idea and requires anyone who wants to use it to obtain permission from you beforehand, preventing them from making money off of something that belongs to you alone. Here we discuss some of the main benefits of filing a patent. So let's start!
What is a patent?
A patent is an exclusive right granted by a government to make, use, or sell an invention for a limited period of time. Patents are territorial and do not extend beyond national borders. In other words, a patent can be taken out in one country only. It’s always important to check if you need to register your patents internationally, depending on your goals. A patent gives its owner the sole right to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing an invention during its lifetime. When it comes to patents, utility (or process) patents protect inventions—new processes, machines, and products—that have a physical form. Utility patent protection lasts for 20 years (in India, the USA, and Europe), with options to renew.
Why should you consider applying for a patent?
A patent, once granted, gives you specific legal rights to control and profit from your idea. The biggest advantage is that your competitors are legally prohibited from making, using, or selling your invention for up to 20 years. This can be particularly helpful if you’re working in a competitive industry and someone tries to copy your idea—legally speaking, they’re stealing it. Additionally, if you have a patent that allows you to license your idea or your invention to other companies—whether for money or in exchange for promotional support—you have another option. As an example, Samsung pays Apple over $500 million per year to license its patented technologies. And as long as you maintain ownership of your patent, new products containing old technology will also pay royalties back to you.
How much time does it take to apply for a patent?
This can depend on how complex your product is, whether you’re using an attorney or handling it yourself, and what country you're applying in. In general, expect it to take anywhere from three months to more than a year. If you’re filing for patent protection internationally, it could take even longer. However long it takes, don’t move forward until you have all the necessary documents in order—that includes drawings (even if they're just rough sketches) and descriptions that explain exactly how to make and use your invention.
Criteria
According to the Patent Act of 1995, you must fulfil these criteria before applying for your patent:
- Novelty: your invention must not have been public, not even by yourself, before the date of the application.
- Inventive step: your invention cannot be a solution that would be obvious to a manufacturer.
- Applicability in the Industrial Case: This criterion implies that it must be possible to actually manufacture your new invention.
What are the advantages of filing for a patent?
If you invent a product and another person in the country makes the same or similar invention after you but applies for a patent before you, that person will have priority over your invention. Without patent protection, you would only be able to sell your brand and goodwill to third parties, not the invention itself, because you don't have a patent. If your invention is patented, other competitors may not use it directly or indirectly to develop another product. With a patent, you can license your technology to other companies and profit from your invention or project without having to make or sell it yourself.
- Once you’ve created something valuable, it can be difficult to keep up with demand. The ability to patent your creation makes it more difficult for imitators to copy your inventions and compete with your company.
- Patents can also make it easier for you to get investors interested in investing in your business if they see that you have something unique that others don’t have or haven’t replicated just yet.
- You can even use these patents as collateral if you take out a loan from someone else. Having an official document proving ownership may dissuade creditors from going after those who owe you money. Having more control over when other people are allowed to sell your product means that you can decide when new products come on the market and whether you want them to compete directly with what you’re selling now.
- Filing a patent gives you more legal protection when it comes to things like lawsuits—which is definitely not something you want to deal with during your biggest growth period.
- Also helpful for college students, a passport could help them easily achieve a job nationally or internationally. Young, creative minds can both benefit the nation and themselves by taking an interest in applying for patents. The personal portfolio of a student also becomes heavier in this way.
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Application
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Costs (INR)
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Provisional Patent application
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15,000
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Patentability
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10,000
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Complete patent application after provisional
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10,000
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Directly going for complete patent application
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20,000-25,000
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request for early publication
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0-1,000
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Request for examination
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0-1,000
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International Patent
Given that most countries have different patent laws, you may want to file for patents in multiple countries. In order to do so, you’ll need to hire an intellectual property attorney. An international patent application is similar to national applications in many ways, but does require some additional information and drawings. You’ll also likely have to translate your application into local languages. It will cost several thousand dollars, plus attorney fees. After filing in one country, it can take more than two years to receive a patent. So plan ahead and keep this in your mind.
Conclusion
A patent can be more valuable than a publication, but still, there's a need to increase awareness regarding patent applications. Recently, the Indian government has started to show interest in this field, as Japan and the USA have already started this process for college students and university students.
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Benefits of Patent Filing, Importance of Patent Filing, Main Benefits of Patent Filing, Online Patent filing, Patent filing process, A complete information about Patent filing
