HISTORY OF PATENTS

• The modern system of IP began in the 15th Century

Europe
• The first patent was granted in 1467 in Berne for the
manufacture of paper.
• In 1469 Hohann Von speyer was given an exclusive
license to practice printing in Venice. In 1507 the Venetian
council granted a twenty year patent for a secret process
of mirror making.
•
 WHAT IS A PATENT
• PATENTS ARE GRANTED FOR INVENTIONS
• A PATENT IS AN EXCLUSIVE LEGAL RIGHT
GRANTED BY THE GOVERNMENT FOR AN
INVENTION THAT IS
• NEW, INVOLVES AN INVENTIVE STEP, CAPABLE
FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION
• FOR A PERIOD OF 20 YEARS
• IN RETURN THE OWNER SHOULD DISCLOSE
THE INVENTION TO THE PUBLIC
• THE DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION IS DONE
IN A PATENT DOCUMENT.
•
 PATENTABLE SUBJECT MATTER
• AN INVENTION MEANS A SOLUTION TO A
SPECIFIC PROBLEM IN ANY FIELD
• AN INVENTION MAY RELATE TO A PRODUCT
OR PROCESS
• ART 27 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT IS CLEAR
• “patents shall be available for any inventions,
whether products or processes in all fields of
Technology…”
 Types of patents
• PROCESS PATENT:- IT PROTECTS PATENTEE
against the use of the process within the
jurisdiction but also against the importation of
goods made elsewhere by the same process
• A product produced by the process is also
protected (but not if the product is produced
by another process.
 cont…
• General exceptions
• Basic theories(scientific
theories,math,methods
• abstract ideas(mental acts, methods of
playing games or business methods
• Discoveries
• Presentation of information
• Computer software without technical effect
 Cont…
• Diagnostic methods and treatment of human
or animal body
• Living organisms(plants, human life or plant
life) other than micro-organisms and
essentially biological processes for the
production of plants or animals other thab
non-biological and microbiological processes
 Requirements for patentatability
• NOVELTY
• INVENTIVITY
• INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
 NOVELTY
• AN INVENTION IS NOVEL IF IT IS NOT
ANTICIPATED BY PRIOR ART
• PRIOR ART IS KNOWLEDGE MADE AVAILABLE
TO THE PUBLIC BEFORE THE FILING
DATE(PRIORITY DATE)
• By written publication anywhere in the world
• By oral disclosure, use or in any other way
 EXAMINATION AS TO SUBSTANCE
(NOVELTY)
• Patent Application must be novel/new before
it is granted
• absence of novelty can be proved by
published prior art.
• presence of novelty can not be proved due
lack of access of all prior Art.
 INVENTIVE STEP
• INVENTION MUST BE A CREATIVE IDEA &
TECHNICALLY BE A STEP FORWARD
• MUST NOT BE OBVIOUS TO ONE “SKILLED IN
THE ART”
• INVENTIVE STEP IN CENTERED ON THE
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED, A SOLUTION TO THE
PROBLEM & A RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE
SOLUTION
• SHOULD ONE “SKILLED IN THE ART” POSE A
PROBLEM SOLVE IT IN MANNER CLAIMED AND
FORSEE A RESULT
• THEN INVENTIVE STEP IS LACKING
 PROBLEM SOLUTION APPROACH TO
INVENTIVE STEP
• IDENTIFY CLOSEST PRIOR ART, THE MOST
RELEVANT PRIOR ART
• DETERMINING THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM, THAT
IS DETERMINING IN THE VIEW OF THE CLOSES
PRIOR ART, THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM WHICH
THE CLAIMED INVENTION ADRESSES AND
SUCCESSFULLY SOLVES
• EXAMINING WHETHER OR NOT THE CLAIMED
SOLUTION TO THE OBJECTIVE TECHNICAL
PROBLEM IS OBVIOUS FOR THE SKILLED PERSON
IN VIEW OF THE STATE OF ART IN GENERAL
 DETERMINING THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR INVENTIVE STEP
• IDENTIFYING THE INVENTIVE CONCEPT
EMBODIED IN THE PATENT
• IMPUTING TO A NORMALLY SKILLED BUT
UNIMAGINATIVE ADRESEE WHAT WAS
COMMON GENERAL KNOWLEDGE IN THE ART
• IDENTIFYING THE DIFFERENCES IF ANY
BETWEEN THE MATTER CITED AND THE
ALLEDGED INVENTION
• DECIDING WHETHER THOSE DIFFERENCES
VIEWED WITHOUT ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THE
ALLEDGED INVENTION, CONSTITUTED STEPS
WHICH WOULD HAVE BEEN OBVIOUS TO THE
SKILLED MAN IN THE ART OR WHETHER THEY
REQUIRED A DEGREE OF INNOVATION
FACTORS POINTING TO OBVIOUSNESS
• INVENTION INVOLVES A MERE WORKSHOP
MODIFICATION OF KNOWN ALTERNATIVES
• INVENTION INVOLVES SUBSTITUTION OF
WELL KNOWN EQUIVALENTS
• INVENTION INVOLVES USE OF WELL KNOWN
TECHNIQUES, WHERE RESULTS ARE KNOW
AND EXPECTED
• INVENTION DOES NOT PRODUCE
UNEXPECTED EFFECTS OR RESULTS
 FACTORS POINTING TOWARDS
INVENTIVE STEP/NON OBVIOUSNESS
• THE INVENTION SOLVES A TECHNICAL
PROBLEM WHICH OTHERS HAVE BEEN
WORKING UNSUCCESSFULLY
• THE INVENTION SATISFIES LONG FELT NEED
• THE INVENTION OVERCOMES A TECHNICAL
PREJUDICE
• THE INVENTION INVOLVES UNEXPECTED
TECHNICAL EFFECT
 INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY
• INVENTION MUST BE INDUSTRIALLY
APPLICABLE IN AN PRACTICAL SENSE i.e
producable and applicable in industry
• Must have practical utility or function
 Unity of invention.
• Patent can only relate to one invention or a
group of closely related inventions
• Limits the possibility of filing several
inventions in one application
• Lack of unity must be established before
examination
• Lack of unity normally results from lack of
novelty or inventive step in one of the claims