Intellectual property rights provide protection for intellectual creations and characteristics. Intellectual property rights are normally divided into copyright and industrial rights protection.
Industrial rights protection is the protection afforded to technical solutions via a patent, the protection for the appearance and form of products via design protection and the protection for trademarks and other product characteristics via trademark protection. Copyright refers to the intellectual property rights that provide protection for music, literature and other artistic creation.
Patent
A patent is an exclusive right to exploit an invention, i.e. a technical solution to a problem. The exclusive right given by a patent means that no one may use the invention for professional purposes by, for example, using, manufacturing, selling or importing the invention without the patentee's permission.
Conditions for a patent
In order for your invention to be patentable, it must satisfy certain conditions. It must be:
- new
- inventive
- industrially applicable.
Novelty
The invention must not be known before you submit your patent application. It does not matter how, by whom or where in the world it has been disclosed. The invention is considered to be known even if you are the one who has used or published it.
Inventive step
The invention must involve an inventive step, which means that it must differ significantly from what is already known. What is more, the solution must not be obvious to a person skilled in the technical area of the invention. This means that combinations of known methods or objects in new ways are not necessarily patentable.
Industrial applicability
Industrial applicability means that the invention must be of a technical nature, have a technical effect and be reproducible.
- Of a technical nature means that the invention complies with the accepted laws of physics. It must be tangible, such as a product or a process, and not just a theory.
- Technical effect means that the invention must work and solve a problem in a technical way. The effect need not be new or better than existing solutions.
- Reproducibility means that the result should be the same each time the invention is used.
The requirement that the invention should be industrially applicable means that certain types of ideas cannot serve as the basis of a patent. There are also exclusions laid down by law to what can be patented, despite all three criteria being met. Other authorities may sometimes place obstacles in the way of the invention being used, despite our having granted a patent.
References:
The Swedish Patent and Regristration Office