Month: January 2018

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Idea, Invention and Patent

Hello friends, have you ever had an idea and wondered if you can get a patent for it or what you should do to get a patent for it? I had similar questions a few years back and it took some effort to figure out the things. Fortunately I found out that it’s not at all complex; it just calls for a bit of information and some effort to follow a well defined process. Today’s article will highlight some relevant points in this regard and will be further elaborated with subsequent articles. Hopefully the information shared here will help some of you in identifying your own patentable ideas and getting them patented.

Idea vs. invention

Imagine that you have an idea and you want to patent it. You may ask if you can do so. There is only one correct answer to it – you cannot, not yet. Even the brightest idea would not result in a patent automatically.

It is not so bad though. With an idea you have actually taken the first step. Remember the  wheels of invention? You are very much there within a prominent part of the environment for invention. All you have to do is to work upon the idea to turn it into an invention. An invention may be patented.

Wondering what an invention means? There could be many definitions but within the legal framework [ref. 1] it means a product or process which is:

  1. New (novel),
  2. Has an inventive step, and
  3. Has some industrial application (utility).

The jargon “inventive step” needs better clarity to make the picture clear. It means [ref. 2] at least one feature in the product or process that involves:

  • Technical advancement compared to the existing knowledge, or
  • Economic significance, or
  • Both technical advancement and economic significance, and
  • The feature makes the invention not obvious to a person skilled in the art.

We can elaborate this with an example. Suppose you have developed a new water filter technology that provides same effectiveness as a commercial RO water purifier but requires no electric power. This product has a new technology and saves electricity, thus has both technological advancement and economic significance. Had you just replaced an existing type of pump in a RO machine with another known type of pump to improve its performance, it would probably miss the not obvious requirement, as anybody knowledgeable in RO technology surely knows that. Fortunately, that is not your case, your machine has some feature which nobody would generally think as a solution. It is only after your patent application people could take a note and say “WOW”! Congratulations, your product has a clear inventive step.

The product is new, and it can be manufactured by relevant industry and used by people. Thus your machine qualifies as an invention. There you go! Now you can apply for a patent.

The requirements talked above are in line with the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and followed by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). Therefore you can expect similar requirements world wide although the way of assessment may slighly vary.

Tips: A product or process, qualifying as an invention can only be patented. A mere idea is not patentable.

Is that all?

Almost, but not all. The condition of being “new” needs a relook; it should be understood from the legal point of view. A new invention is one that is not available to public domain (legal term is “anticipated”) before the patent application is filed [ref. 3] by publication or use anywhere in the world.

It is thus extremely important to be sure that your work is indeed new. This can be done through prior art search from various patent databases and scientific literature. Major databases and a few search tips can be found from the “Useful Links” section of this website.

Conducting a prior art search ensures that nobody else has done the same work. Equally important is to manage your own publication. As a thumb rule you should file a patent application before publishing a related paper or demonstrating it elsewhere. Of course there are a few exceptions but it is better not to rely on them. If you are interested about the exceptions, please see Chapter VI of the (Indian) Patents Act.

Tips: Do not publish or demonstrate your invention before filing a patent application.

WHAT is a Patent?

Now that you are ready with an invention, you would most likely expect recognition for it and possibly monetary benefits too. In India publishing a research paper based on the research work is often regarded as a recognition and possibility of a patent is overlooked. However, you can have both!

Let us learn about what a patent is and the benefits it may give. In simple words a patent is a legal recognition of an invention that grants certain exclusive rights to the patentee (the applicant). These rights prevent others from making, using, importing and selling the patented product or process [ref. 4]. The patentee can transfer the rights in part or full to a third party by means of assignment or licence. He may legally challenge anybody violating the rights.

These rights are territorial (valid within a specific country). If you have a patent in India, the rights are applicable here but outside the country there is no protection. It would require a patent in another country also if you wish to protect your invention in that specific country.

A patent, if granted, is valid from the date of application for a period of 20 years [ref. 5]. Hence remember once you file a patent application, your clock starts ticking. So plan well to exploit it’s full commercial potential. However, keep in mind that the patent office only confers you the rights, it does not ensure automatic money. It is up to you to make use of your rights to generate monetary benefits.

Tips: Patent is a legal recognition that confers exclusive rights to the patentee and is valid for 20 years from the date of application.

Who can apply for a Patent?

It is time to file your patent application. Let us see who can file it. The Indian patent law permits the following persons to apply for a patent with the Indian Patent Office [ref. 6]:

  1. The inventor(s),
  2. The assignee of the inventor(s),
  3. The legal representative of an inventor or assignee if he died before filing the application,
  4. The above persons either singly or jointly with any other person.

This means you, the inventor, can manage your application all by yourself. It is a cost effective way provided you learn about the filing process and write a proper patent specification. You will only have to pay the official application fees, usually a few thousands.

If you do not want to break your head for this and have enough funds, then hiring a patent agent is a good option. A patent agent is a techno-legal professional authorised by the patent office to process the application on your behalf [ref. 7].  A number of firms may also  do the job through their patent agents. The application expenditure increases due to the fees an agent would charge.

If you assign your invention to somebody else, termed as the assignee, he can make an application. You will still be recorded as the inventor. It is between the inventor and assignee to decide the terms and conditions for transfer of rights, the patent office will not play any role here but may require proof of such agreement.

Tips: The inventor, assignee  and their legal representative (for a deceased person) can file an application himself or through a patent agent. 

How to apply for a patent

The major work for filing a patent application is to write an appropriate specification for the invention. The Indian Patent Office Manual has adequate details to follow and file your application. Similar manual is also there for an international application with WIPO. In this article I am not detailing the application process. There will be dedicated articles later covering this. Meanwhile, if needed, the links given in our “Useful Links” page can be referred to.

Tips: The Patent Office Manual has well defined procedures to prepare and file an application.

References:

Following sections of the Patents Act, 1970:

  1. Section 2(j)
  2. Section 2(ja)
  3. Section 2(l)
  4. Section 48
  5. Section 53
  6. Section 6
  7. Section 127

About the author: The author is an experienced Mechanical Engineer and inventor.

Next article: What are not patentable? Expected during the second half of February 2018.

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The Wheels of Invention

Drawing an Analogy

Hello readers, wish you all a very happy new year. I am glad to post the first article in this website that explains the name of the site and forms the base for the subsequent posts. It helps in understanding the relationships among an idea, its development leading to an invention, patenting it and commercialising it; particularly in Indian context.

Let us start with a touchy topic that many people like to talk and debate about – why can India, with a billion population, not win a lot of medals in the Olympic games? We often see a lot of assessments in the media and committees are formed after each games to identify the ways to do better. 

I do not intend to discuss the outcomes of these assessments and committees, and rather would like to point towards a success story. While the country as a whole have failed to boost the available talents, a gentleman named Mr. Gopichand (needs no introduction) has successfully created a winning environment for one of the Olympic sports, Badminton. In less than a decade time his academy has produced 2 Olympic medals (7% of India’s total tally of 28 medals in more than 100 years). Moreover he has produced a number of excellent world class players who promise to deliver more exceptional results. By now you might be wondering what Mr. Gopichand’s academy has got to do with this website that claims to concentrate on inventions and patents. Please be with me, we are going there in a moment. All I am trying to highlight is the impact of right mindset and environment on the outcome that Mr. Gopichand has demonstrated.

Analogous to India’s poor record in Olympics we are equally short in producing outstanding inventions. With due respect to all the great minds who have done and are doing their best against all odds, we have never been a force in this arena. That’s why I thought in India inventions are analogous to the Olympic medals – have a huge pool of talent but the number of inventions disappoints. The question is – can we learn from this analogy and replicate Mr. Gopichand’s success for useful inventions in future?

A few months back I read a speech given by Infosys co-founder Mr. Narayanmurthy in front of the IISc graduates. There he pointed out the amount of impact MIT has made on technology and how we in India lack that trend. Surely he had a point. However, such discussions are not uncommon in media and anybody with an unbiased eye towards technological advancements in this country would readily agree to it. Here comes the next question – what can we do to replicate Mr. Gopichand’s model in the field of invention? There may exist multiple ways to do this. In this post I am going to explain an holistic view of what contributes to an invention.

Wheels of Invention – What it MeanS

Let us look at the title of this website. What do I mean by “Wheels of Invention”? Let us imagine the environment as a sphere in which an inventor has to work and many factors inside this sphere affect outcome of the inventor’s efforts. Some of these factors are more influential than others.  I like to term these more influential factors as the wheels of invention. These are:

  • Wheel of Invention
  • Wheel of Curiosity
  • Wheel of Knowledge
  • Wheel of Development
  • Wheel of Market

As seen in the figure below the wheels are interrelated. This interrelation is shown as rotation. As the outer wheels (drivers) are in contact with the central wheel (driven), any variation in these wheels’ rotation will determine how the central wheel of invention will rotate and hence perform. To keep the things simple,  to ensure a successful invention, an inventor has to be aware of the wheels and should preferrably be able to control them to some extent. I am now going to briefly explain the wheels. Our subsequent posts in this website will align to these wheels for better understanding.

The Wheels and Environment that Influence Inventions
Wheel of Invention

This is the wheel which actually churns out a successful invention. It is not necessary that a patent has to be obtained for an invention, it is a choice left with the inventor. However, a patent is a formal recognition of the invention and the inventor and therefore is the most important aspect of this wheel.

This is an area that poses a lot of difficult questions in a new inventor’s mind. For example, is my work patentable; how do I patent it; who can help me; would it cost me a lot to get a patent etc. Lack of awareness in this area is common in India, be it for individuals or academics or industry; except maybe for the bigger institutes or industries. Even in premier technical institutes, where patent cells exist to guide the inventors, publishing research papers  take priority and often patenting is not considered, although publishing such papers is still possible after applying for a patent. So, the bottom line is that the technical community must have at least basic awareness about patenting if we are to get more patents. A considerable number of future articles in this website will concentrate on creating such awareness.

To summarise, Wheel of Invention emphasises on awareness about patents.

Wheel of Curiosity

In my view everything related to an invention starts here. The product is actually conceived at this stage. Here the inventor identifies an opportunity for something new and embarks on the journey to build upon it. Have you ever tried ironing your shirt on a Monday morning for office and thought “How boring and time consuming process! Why is not there a washing machine like device for automatically ironing the clothes”?  That’s an example where an invention may be conceived. I would like to share later a few real examples.

So the important thing for a potential inventor is to keep eyes open and looking for opportunities that can be converted into products and processes. Such opportunities may be identified from various sources like identifying a problem (as in the above example), from a research work, from market demand, simply hitting upon an idea (solution) first and even from historically failed/incomplete technological attempts.

If it’s so simple, then why don’t we see great inventions often in this country? The answer is – no, we in fact see some great inventions here and there, which make ripples for sometime. However, most of them are result of individual brilliance and not due to a system. Those inventors have surely gone through the same process. Unfortunately our academic system does not encourage much to be curious to create enormous opportunities. All is not lost though; there is an excellent initiative by National Innovation Foundation in this area to gather concepts for developing further. I hope they will be able to reach to the grass root level more and more, and will support the talents we have.

To summarise, the Wheel of Curiosity emphasises on identifying new ideas by an individual or system.

Wheel of Knowledge

Here comes the next wheel. Once a problem is identified or an idea is available to solve a specific problem, it needs to be nurtured in a right manner. The inventor is not expected to know everything beforehand, he/she may have to learn many things. I know people who have some ideas but due to lack of right information they struggle to progress further. Access to relevant sources of knowledge is the key here. The sources include, but not limited to – libraries, research databases, teachers, industry professionals, other inventors etc. Such sources are not easily accessible to many people in  India and it hampers our prospect in the field of invention.

To summarise, the Wheel of Knowledge emphasises on getting relevant information/knowledge from the right sources at the right time.

Wheel of Development

This one is perhaps a tricky one. You have a great idea and knowledge but still converting it to a finished product may be extremely challenging. Apart from people who are actually involved in design and development, other people may not be able to appreciate the minute things that go into development. For example, I can design a mechanical part in great detail which may eventually become a manufacturing nightmare and may eventually send me back to square one. The key here is excellent planning before jumping into the actual work and relying on team work. While the previous two wheels may be managed well individually, this one may not be. It often requires expertise of various people to develop a real product.

To summarise, the Wheel of Development emphasises on developing your idea through proper planning and team work.

Wheel of Market

This is even a trickier one. Let us burst a myth here. Many people think that getting a patent is end of the story, after which everything is just “they lived happily thereafter”. There will be automatic fame and fortune following the invention. If it happens that’s great but unfortunately, it does not happen most of the time. Not all the patented products see light of the market in reality. There is no doubt  that even an uncommercialised invention also contributes to the future technology but getting it commercialised is the most desirable outcome.  Without getting their products in market, the great Mr. Edison or Tesla would not have been that great.

Unfortunately, there is no easy and defined way to successfully market a product, particularly in India where such environment does not exist. However,  there are recent initiatives to support inventors making it to the market. I would discuss this in later articles.

To summarise, the Wheel of Market emphasises on commericalisation on an invention.

Summary

An invention is an outcome of four influential factors, imagined as four driving wheels. Any inventor has to have some awareness and control over these wheels to be successful. That is all for today. We will be back with more informative articles in the coming days.

 

About the author: The author is an experienced Mechanical Engineer and inventor.

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