Secure your idea for 12 months and convert to international patent under PCT within 12 months
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) provides filing mechanism for global protection of innovative products and services.
Patent attorneys with technical and legal expertise add value to client’s patent portfolio by developing strong patent strategy. Patent owners use effective portfolio management for implementation of profitable business models across the globe. As a result of strong patent enforcement initiatives, technology companies and inventors are able to prevent patent infringement by third parties. Patent experts conduct regular patent audits in a proactive manner to ensure adequate patent protection for existing products, along with regular reviews of potential infringement scenarios by way of freedom-to-operate studies. Additionally, the patent audit covers the periodic review of relevant provisions of the patent licensing agreements and employment contracts. The most valuable patent assets are generally developed by innovative companies that position their research driven innovations ahead of the times across various technology sectors, such as, for example, software, mobile applications, artificial intelligence or AI, machine learning or ML, drones, life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, medical devices, chemical compounds, semiconductors, telecommunication, Internet of Things or IoT, robotics, automobiles, material science, polymers, agrochemicals, mechanics, consumer electronics and Standard Essential Patents.
The core foundation of patent law includes enforcement of patent claims in case of patent infringement by third parties. The patent infringing activities include, making, using or selling patented products and / or services without obtaining the required permissions from the patent owners or the patentees. Patent attorneys work with innovators to provide assistance in determining patent infringement situations by identifying third party patents and products that pose a high degree of risk. The identification of potentially infringing patents and products includes conducting a thorough patent infringement search followed by a detailed analysis of patent claims and product features that are compared with the scope of the patent in question. The patent infringement search results are classified according to patent classifications, patentees, and a score is given to illustrate the relevance of each search result for the purposes of a likely patent infringement.
It is a standard industry practice to go for freedom to operate search before the launch of a new product in a particular market. The FTO patent search is also known as a product clearance search. Various companies approach patent attorneys to conduct a freedom to operate patent search and further perform FTO analysis with a view to avoid infringement of third party patent rights. Generally, FTO patent searches are jurisdiction specific, wherein the patent searchers focus on the relevant market where a new product is to be launched. In certain situations, the FTO searches are conducted for more than one countries as well. Also, the focus of FTO patent analysis is more inclined towards granted patents as those are enforceable immediately in case of a likely patent infringement scenario.
Patent owners are able to anticipate potential patent infringers by way of evidence of use charts or patent claim charts. The patent analyst working on evidence of use patent claim charts is able to extract value of the patents owned by mapping patent claim elements with third party patents having similar patent claims. A thorough comparison and analysis of such similar patents provides important patent insights to all stakeholders. The evidence of use charts also prove to be of crucial importance during patent litigation and patent infringement lawsuits across various courts.
Patent attorneys assist the patent owners for bringing their innovations to market by determining the commercial value of a patent. The patent valuation procedure includes determining the scope of patent claims with reference to the relevant prior art, including granted patents, published patent applications, and, non-patent literature. The relevant prior art for the purposes of determining the value of a patent includes prior art available at the time of patent grant, which is duly considered by the patent examiner to determine the eligibility of the patent.
Patent licensing refers to the process of providing a third party with specific patent rights by a patent owner. Such specific rights can include, bringing the patented invention to market within a specific jurisdiction, or implementing the patented invention in parts, and other similar scenarios. The specific rights are transferred from the patent owner or the patent licensor to the patent licensee by way of a patent licensing agreement. In some cases, patent licensing becomes part of technology transfer agreements wherein an entire technology covering multiple patents is part of a transaction.
It is also common to transfer complete patent rights by way of patent assignments or patent acquisitions. Companies opt for assignment of patent rights to extract one time value depending upon the amount of time and money invested in developing the invention and obtaining the corresponding patent rights in one or more countries. Patent attorneys represent their clients for patent acquisition of desired innovations. Before executing patent assignment agreements, it is advisable to conduct thorough patent due diligence and review the scope of the granted patent before deciding its exact value.
