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| English: map of the European Patent Organisation (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I
just wanted to post up a fairly brief article where to start when trying to
obtain a patent for a product or service. I also want to mention areas of European IP
law that you should take into consideration when doing so.
Most,
if not all Intellectual Property law firms will advise from the start in conducting patent
searches in Europe. This involves looking at the online databases of the
European Patent Office, which is a free service so it is well worth doing all
you can here. The idea behind this is to research into other existing patents
or applications that have been officially registered with the European Patent
Office, one of the leading authorities in the field.
Carrying
out such research can be quite enlightening in terms of judging the
effectiveness and scale of patent you could potentially cover your product or
service with.
It
is important to know that patents can be enforced across a number of European
states, so there is a very broad spectrum to take into consideration when
applying for a patent, especially when you consider the sheer number of
companies and business that are scattered across the continent. You can acquire
a patent from national patent offices (i.e. UK
Patent Office), or from a centralised patent prosecution process at the
European Patent Office, as mentioned above.
If
I were to go into full detail on every single area of legislation concerned
with IP law then we’d all be sitting here squinting at the screen for the next
few days. So if you want find out more detailed information on the topic get in
contact with Withers and Rogers IP Law,
either by email or phone.
You
do not have to necessarily squat up on everything obviously, because there are
professional law firms like Withers and Rogers
