What are the misunderstandings in patent applications
Myth 1: The results of independent research and development are not enough When you apply for a patent, you have intellectual property rights. Some technicians believe that as long as they innovate independently, they will have independent intellectual property rights. In fact, this is not the case. Patent is a kind of monopoly right. If independent research and development of technological achievements does not apply for a patent, it will not be legally recognized and protected. When others misappropriate their research results, because the researchers do not have patent rights on the results and cannot receive legal protection, they cannot hold the embezzler legally responsible. At the same time, in our country, patent applications adopt the first-to-file principle. The patent will be granted to whoever applies for an invention that is creative, novel and practical first. Therefore, if the developer does not apply in time and is preempted by others to apply and be granted a patent, the developer will not be able to pursue the legal liability of others. There are countless such cases in China.
Misunderstanding 2: Apply for a patent only after the product is put into mass production
After working with the inventor When communicating about the technical content of applying for a patent, many of them had this idea: This technical solution has not yet been put into production, and no product has been released. It is too early to apply for a patent at this time, and wait until the product is put into large-scale production. It is more appropriate to apply for a patent after production. As everyone knows, it is already too late at this time. Even if you are lucky enough to be authorized, the patent is still in an unstable state. At this time, if you find that someone has infringed the patent and filed a lawsuit, the infringer will defend on the grounds that the technology has been made public as of the date of patent application. Not only will you fail to win the lawsuit, but all the energy, time, and money you spent applying for a patent will be wasted. The basis for a patent application is not a product that already exists on the market, nor is it necessarily a product that has already been formed. As long as you have a practical idea, you can start writing application documents.
Myth 3: Improvements to patented products do not require patent applications
Some inventors Thinking that after applying for a patent, they can "sit back and relax", thereby neglecting the continued research and development work in the later period. Even if new products or new improvements are developed, they will no longerapply for patent. The consequences of this misunderstanding are no different than not applying for a patent. Because when someone else improves the product and applies for a patent, it in turn restricts the upgrading of the original patentee's product, which causes the original patentee to inadvertently become an infringer. At this time, the original patentee loses his intellectual property rights.
Myth 4: Only one type of patent can be applied for a technical achievement
Some inventions People believe that a technological achievement can only apply for one type of patent at a time, that is, it can only apply for an invention patent, only a utility model patent, or only a design patent. There are three types of patents stipulated in my country's patent law: invention patents, utility model patents and design patents. A product invention can apply for multiple patents at the same time, and technical solutions can also apply for utility model and invention patents at the same time. Utility model patents are approved quickly and can obtain corresponding protection as soon as possible. Therefore, for some important product inventions, if the inventor only applies for an invention patent, and at this time someone else takes a "two-pronged approach" and applies for an invention patent and a utility model patent at the same time, then he will first obtain the utility model patent and own the patent rights for the product. . If the inventor uses the product, it will constitute infringement.
Myth 5: Patent application is the only way to protect technological achievements
This is because many People are not very clear about the methods of protecting technological achievements. There are two ways to protect technological achievements: applying for patents to protect them by law, and using technical secrets to protect them themselves. Both have their own pros and cons. If a technical achievement is patented, when others infringe it, the infringer can be legally sanctioned to protect the interests of the patentee; the disadvantage is that the technical solution must be fully disclosed to the extent that ordinary technicians in this field can use the disclosure to The extent to which the technical solution has been implemented provides others with opportunities for further research and development based on this technical solution. If technological achievements are protected by technical secrets, there is no need to disclose the technical solution like applying for a patent. If the protection measures are appropriate, it will be difficult for others to understand.
Myth 6: Once you get the patent certificate, you get it Valid patent rights
This is a common misunderstanding among most patentees. In my country, the State Intellectual Property Office does not conduct substantive examination of utility model and design patents. Even if someone has applied for the same patent for the same technical solution before you apply, your application may still be approved. If no one raises objectionIf you agree, your patent rights will be maintained. Once someone declares invalidation of your patent, your patent will be 100% invalid. In other words, you have not obtained a valid patent right.
Misunderstanding 7: The technical solution is not explained clearly
Patents submitted by inventors from many units The application documents are very simple, some even only have a few sentences, and the technical solution is not explained clearly at all, which brings great difficulties to the patent agent in preparing formal patent application documents. When inventors are asked to provide more technical solutions, they will avoid it on the grounds of technical confidentiality, which shows that these inventors have not grasped the balance between confidentiality and disclosure. They just insist on confidentiality and are afraid to reveal more technical information, but they just ignore the problem of insufficient disclosure. A large number of cases show that if a patent application is issued an examination action notice on the grounds that the technical solution is insufficiently disclosed, there is a 98% chance that the patent application will be rejected. This point hopes to attract the inventor's great attention.
Myth 8: Not doing any search before applying for a patent
Some inventors have submitted patents The application documents were not searched for novelty, and they were not sure about the novelty of the technical solution. They did not know whether the technical solution had been disclosed or used publicly. This is also a common problem among Chinese technical personnel - their ability to retrieve and collect information is extremely limited. Low. Search work is a very important part in patent application. If others have already applied for a patent on a certain technical solution or disclosed it in relevant literature, it will be a waste if you apply for a patent on this technical solution without doing a search. time, money and energy.
Misunderstanding 9: Publish a paper or evaluate the results first and then apply for a patent
Some inventors have obtained After researching the results, they are eager to publish articles or evaluate the results without thinking of applying for patent protection first. Because publishing an article or appraising results inevitably requires disclosure of technical content, the patent application loses its novelty and cannot be protected. In the process of patent agency, the author once encountered a patent application with great market potential from a certain unit that had to be abandoned due to premature publication of an academic article.
Myth 10: Lack of effective management of patents
Some companies have applied for many patents. But there is no dedicated person to manage it. Some patent documents conflict with each other, and some have no market value and are still paying annual fees. Some patent rights have been infringed, but business managers do not understand the characteristics of the patent and cannot file lawsuits in a timely manner. OthersThe reason is that the application quality of the patent documents written is poor and cannot provide the protection it should have.
Myth 11: Lack of long-term patent strategic planning
First of all, time and A waste of energy. Some companies apply for a large number of patents without any purpose, resulting in a low authorization rate and a large number of junk patents, which is a waste of time and energy. Secondly, it can break through the patent encirclement of foreign companies. An enterprise should have a very clear understanding of the basic patent status and peripheral patent status in its own industry. Only in this way can it find technological breakthroughs, eliminate other people's patent obstacles, establish its own patent advantages, and win market competition.
Based on the above, the editor has compiled relevant content about patent applications. It can be seen that some companies apply for a large number of patents without any purpose, resulting in a low authorization rate and a large number of junk patents, which is a waste of time and energy. We should recognize the above misunderstandings when applying for a patent so that we can successfully obtain a patent. For more questions, Legal Savior Network provides professional legal consulting services.
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