Utility Patents: What Is It And Criteria To Register One
Hello everyone from Solver!
Today we want to continue our conversation with you regarding intellectual property in the field of patents.
As we already wrote, there are two types of patents: utility and design. While design patents are inherently simple to understand, utility patents are more complex.
Utility patents have three key criteria: novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability. Let’s take a closer look at each component to understand the essence of this type of patent.
Novelty. For our item to have a novelty criterion, it must be new and unknown to anyone until now. This means that our item should not be published in the public domain, including articles, conferences, websites, etc. What about the publication of the listing of our item on the Amazon marketplace? Is it really impossible to register a patent after our item’s publication on the Amazon marketplace listing? Will a posted listing be considered a “publication of information” about our item? Yes, but everything is not as clear as you think. There is such a thing as a “grace period”. According to the grace period, we have the right to apply for patent registration within one year after the item’s publication in the public domain, including listing publication on Amazon. Therefore, all is not lost 🙂
Inventive step. This means that our item must be an inventive solution. It cannot be a solution that would be obvious to a specialist in the field of knowledge of our item. To understand whether our item meets this criterion, we need to research registered patents for analogs of our item. After successfully researching analogs of our item, we need to compare them with our item and identify the differences. If you failed to identify differences between our item and registered analogs, then the item will not meet this criterion. If you manage to identify differences, but these differences lead to the same result in the process of work of the item, then such an item will also not meet this criterion. If you manage to find significant differences between your item and patented analogs, and at the same time, differences in your item lead to better results in the process of work, then such an item will meet this criterion. Because this criterion falls under the subjective assessment, it is the most ambiguous in relation to the other two criteria.
Industrial applicability. This criterion implies that it must be possible to actually manufacture your item. This means that the text of the patent must have all the necessary methods, formulas, and means for the work of the item in full in reality. If the described methods, formula, and means do not allow your item to achieve the result described in the patent, such an item will not meet the corresponding criterion.
We hope that this post helped you understand issues and the topic of patents in more detail. If you have any additional questions concerning this issue, please contact us, and we will do our best to answer them.
