Online Consultations

Patents

A patent protects your technical inventions, such as a new or improved product, procedure or device. That allows you to prevent others from simply copying your invention. A patent is a right granted by the authorities, which is valid for a maximum period of twenty years. Once the patent has expired, anyone may use the technology

Requirements

The law requires that the invention should meets certain criteria. First of all, it  must be new: no one else can know him. Once the information about the invention has been disclosed, it is no longer possible to obtain protection. Second, the invention must have an inventive step: it can not be obvious. Thirdly, the invention must be industrially applicable, which means that the industry must be able to produce or use it.

Application

A patent is a document that describes your invention, further comprising claims and drawings or embodiments of the invention. First, the state of the art is described in the field corresponding to the invention. The technical problem solved by the invention is also indicated. Claims indicate what exactly you want to protect with a patent. In practice, it is a good idea to involve a specialist who can accurately describe your invention, in accordance with the strict legal regulations in this area. This specialist is a patent attorney: a law-protected title, given only to professionals with a relevant university-level education. The patent attorney will prepare the patent application and submit it to the appropriate authority: for example, the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland in Warsaw.

Patent protection abroad, European patent

The Polish patent will protect your invention in Poland. If you want to protect your invention also abroad, the patent attorney must submit the appropriate filing there. Once you have made your first application in Poland (or another country), there are 12 months to decide in which countries you want to protect the invention further. This allows you to estimate the market’s chances  ahead of the situation when costs will be  involved. 

If you do not decide where to submit further applications within this year, the patent attorney can file an international patent application under the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) mode, which will extend the original period of one year to 18 months. In this case, you have 30 months to decide where to apply for patent protection. 

Patenty

Patents protect inventions – technical solutions such as new or improved product, method or device. It allows you to prevent your invention from being simply copied by others. A patent is a right granted by the relevant authorities, valid for a maximum of 20 years. Once the patent expires the invention can be used by anyone.