Patents
The conditions for patentability, the exclusions and the case of computer-implemented inventions, filing, publication, duration, the priority period and the three regimes for employee inventions.
- 22 cards
- 5 topics
- Free
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Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
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A few cards from the deck
Novelty: what is it?
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A condition for patentability: the invention is not part of the state of the art, that is everything made available to the public before filing.
Your own disclosure destroys novelty: a conference, an article or a public code release before the application can cost the inventor the patent.
Can a computer program be patented?
- Not as such; the technical invention it implements, yes
- Yes, any new program is patentable
- No, never, even if it controls an industrial process
- Yes, provided its source code is published under a free licence
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Not as such; the technical invention it implements, yes
The law excludes computer programs "as such", not technical inventions of which software is part. A program that controls braking or a machine may be covered by a patent.
A patent protects for … from the … of the application, provided annual fees are paid.
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A patent protects for 20 years from the filing of the application, provided annual fees are paid.
This period is not renewable, and failing to pay an annual fee ends the patent early.
Inventive step: what is it?
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A condition for patentability: the invention does not follow in an obvious way from the state of the art for a person skilled in the art.
It goes further than novelty: a new combination that is obvious to a practitioner does not deserve a monopoly.
A student presents her invention at a conference, then files a patent three months later. What happens to her application?
- Nothing: a six-month grace period covers any disclosure the inventor makes herself, in any form
- Her own disclosure destroyed novelty: application rejected or patent open to annulment
- She only loses priority, not novelty
- She is protected by copyright in her presentation, which is as good as a patent
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Her own disclosure destroyed novelty: application rejected or patent open to annulment
European law has no general grace period: anything made public before filing, even by the inventor, belongs to the state of the art. File before disclosing.