A patent is a property right granted to an inventor for his invention and is issued by the Patent Office of the country where the patent application was filed. A patent is issued to reward the applicant with a monopoly for a specific period (e.g. 20 years) for the particular benefits provided by the invention to the people of the country where the patent is granted.

A patent is not "secret". All the information contained in a patent document (description of the invention, drawings and claims) is completely disclosed to the general public. Any person can view and study any patent. The prior permission of the inventor or patent owner to evaluate his or her patent is not required. Granted patents, PCT Patent Applications and European Patent Applications are automatically published in official journals and on the Internet. It therefor falls within the public domain.

There is a requirement that the invention be completely disclosed. Failure to disclose will invalidate the resulting patent. One cannot maintain information important to the patent as trade secret if the information was known on date of filing the application. A patent is made public by Patent Offices through publication to provide full disclosure of the invention so that it becomes part of public domain information.

Yes. Infringement occurs when one practices the invention described in the claims. Knowledge or lack thereof is generally irrelevant to issues of liability. Independent development is not a defense. Knowledge of the patent by the infringer however can be relevant to damages. Many companies conduct new product searches to avoid lawsuits.

The term of a new patent is 20 years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed.

The invention must be new, useful, and non-obvious. Typically inventions are functional items or methods or asexually reproduced plants. Patents can also be obtained for designs.

Patents provide the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale or importing the invention described in the claims. This is perhaps the most powerful means to obtain a legal monopoly for products and processes.

They are used by a manufacturer or seller of an article to inform the public that an application for a patent on that article is on file in the Patent Office. The law imposes a fine on those who use these terms falsely to deceive the public.

No. Patent Offices cannot act or advise you concerning business transactions. However, in the USA, the Patent Office will publish at the request of a patent owner, a notice in the Official Gazette that the patent is available for licensing or sale. The fee for this is US$25.

Yes. This is already automatically done by Patent Offices in their official journals or Internet databases after your patent is granted to you. Any person can view your patent in these journals or databases. PCT Patent Applications and European Patent Applications are also published by the authorities in patent journals and databases. Any person can view your patent, PCT or European Patent Applications in these journals or databases.

A patent is national in scope. For example, a United States Patent protects the inventor's product or process in the United States. If the inventor has no patents in other countries for his/her invention, the invention is not protected in those countries. However, patents can also be obtained by the inventor in most foreign countries, but such patent applications must be filed within one year of the priority date. See next question.

When one files a patent application in the domestic country, the Patent Office issues a Foreign Filing License. That license specifies a priority date. Foreign patents must be filed within one year of the priority date or the priority date is lost. This one year term can be extended to thirty (30) months when filing an application in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). Foreign patent applications must be filed before the expiration of the PCT application.

Most countries prosecute patent applications in the same manner as for example the USA. Applications for European countries can be prosecuted in the European Patent Office (EPO) by filing only one application. When the EPO allows the application, the application is split into the individual countries and each designated country issues a separate patent. African countries use a similar process (ARIPO) to the EPO procedure.

A PCT application extends the time one has to file foreign patent applications from twelve (12) to (30) thirty months from the priority date and is beneficial in several ways. It enables one to conduct market research, market the invention and find licensees or financial partners before incurring more substantial costs when filing a patent application in each of the foreign countries.

The exclusive or monopoly rights a patentee(inventor)receives when a patent is granted to him/her are only used adequately if the inventor intends commercializing the invention. If the inventor cannot do this then patent licenses should be granted to others, e.g. entrepreneurs wanting to start a business based on the invention or established companies wanting to add the invention to their range of products (these parties are referred to as licensees). The licensees then receive the right to exploit the invention and the inventor (licensor) earns royalty income from the licensees in terms of the patent license.

Royalty is the income you earn from your licensee. Generally royalties are a negotiated percentage of sales, e.g. 3% of Net Sales. It will be dependent on profit margins, volumes, etc. However it can take many forms and is further dependent on the nature of the patent that has been licensed, e.g. if a manufacturing process is licensed the royalties may be calculated in a different manner.