| What
is a Patent?
A patent is a form of legal protection that allows the owner
of a discovery or an inventor, to exclude others from using
it without permission for an extended period of time. In other
words, you own the right to prevent others from using your
invention without your permission. It is a government granted
monopoly.
Jamaica is a signatory nation to the Paris Convention for
the Protection of Industrial Property. According to the Paris
Convention, an applicant for a patent in any of the signatory
countries may later file the same patent application in any
of the other signatory countries and receive the benefit of
the filing date of the first country. What this means is that
the later-filed application in the foreign country will be
treated as if it were filed in that country on the same date
that it was filed in the original country.
This only applies if the later-filed application is filed
within one year of the original filing date. This deadline
is important and is not extendable.
The grant of patent gives the owner (either the original
inventor or assignee) the right to exclude others from making,
using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the invention.
Strategic patents may allow a company exclusive control over
a certain market segment. Therefore, certain steps should
be taken to ensure that these right are protected.
A patent owner may elect to license others to make, use,
sell or import the invention. A patent license is sometimes
a viable option to a patent holder who wishes to commercialise
the patent but does not have the resources to do so.
Methods used to divide patent rights in a license include:
- The entire term of the patent or a lesser amount of time
- The grant of exclusives or non-exclusive use
- Limitation to a field of use; and
- Limitations to a specific geographic area.
A patent holder may receive payment in a lump sum, a continuing
royalty or a combination of both. Royalties may be determined
according to sales volume, unit volume, or other agreed approaches.
Patent licenses are governed by general contract law as well
as patent and antitrust laws.
Under United States’ Patent law, the initial rights
to a patent accrue to the first person to invent the invention.
This is unlike most others countries, where patent rights
are awarded to the first person to file a patent application.
This unique aspect of U.S. patent law makes the date of the
invention important in U.S. patent practice.
Specifically, when a patent application claims the same subject
matter as another pending application or an issued patent,
a contest to determine the first inventor, may be declared
by the examiner.
There are different types of patents as well as different
time-frames for protection. i.e. when the patent protection
begins and when it ends.
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