Patents

Patents

1. Gives inventor a monopoly on an invention for 2 years

   • Invention
     • new
     • inventive (and non-obvious)
     • capable of industrial application

2. Rights = inventor or inventor's employer

3. NOT AUTOMATIC

   • Substantial Fee

4. Can not be patented in EU or UK

   • Presentation of Information, e.g. database
   • Software, unless its a component of a system which = patentable invention

5. Difference between Copyright and Patents

   • C protects a form in which ideas are expressed, not the ideas themselves
   • P protects ideas (as embodied in a specification of an invention)