We have discussed that patents are granted to inventors for their inventions.
We also mentioned ‘design patents’ – but just to be clear, those are not the topic of discussion in this chapter. We are focusing on what are called ‘utility patents’ – which are directed towards the ‘use’ of an invention (not the ‘look and feel’ or aesthetic qualities of an item).
A utility patent allows the inventor to prevent others from making, using, selling, or importing the invention.
An important thing to understand here is that a patent does not provide worldwide protection. You need to get a separate patent in each country where you want to use your right. There is an exception to this rule: few countries in Europe have collaborated to make a unique system where you can get a EP patent that is valid in all of the collaborating countries (which are about 20 in number).
However, most inventors get their patents in just their home country and perhaps a handful others because getting a patent is expensive due to the associated fees.
Another important thing to note is that the inventor of a patent need not necessarily be the owner of the patent. This is mostly the case when the patents filed by employees and researchers in a company are owned by the company. A popular word for ‘owner’ in patent industry is ‘assignee’.
Can there be multiple inventors for one patent? Yes. It is quite frequent to see multiple inventors for a patent (e.g. if multiple researchers worked together to make an invention, all of their names must be listed on the patent). If even one name is missed, the patent is invalid.
Okay, let’s now have some practical hands-on knowledge about patents.
⚫ Every patent has a unique publication number. For example, US10023038B2 is a patent that describes an electric car structure that enhances safety during an accident. It was filed and owned by Tesla.
⚫ The publication number can be used to find the full text of a patent and its details. For example, you can find Tesla’s patent by using its publication number on Google Patents: https://patents.google.com/
⚫ The publication number start with a country code. For Tesla’s patent, it is ‘US’ – which, you guessed it, means the patent is a USA patent.
⚫ The publication number has a serial number in it. For Tesla’s patent, it is 10023038. Sometimes people also write it as U.S. Pat. No. 10,023,038.
⚫ The publication number always ends in a “kind code”. It tells what kind of a publication it is. In many countries, patent applications are published (made available publicly) even before they are granted. Applications get a different kind code. Tesla’s patent was published as an application in 2015 with A1 kind code. Its publication number was US20150239331A1. Kind codes vary from country to country and each country has a whole bunch of them. It would be good exercise to find out which kind codes are used in your favorite country and what do they mean. Every patent has a title. Tesla’s patent is titled “System for absorbing and distributing side impact energy utilizing an integrated battery pack”.
⚫ Every patent has one or more “claims”. You can think of claims as a type of “fence” for the patent, i.e. they set a boundary around the patent by describing, in very precise language, what are the exact features of this invention. Tesla’s patent has 20 claims.
⚫ Most of the patents have figures. These figures are meant to make it easier to understand the invention. Different parts shown in figures are customarily labeled with numerical figures. Tesla’s patent has 21 figures.
⚫ Every patent has an abstract. It is like a short paragraph that describes, in short, what the invention is about.
⚫ Every patent has a detailed description, also called a ‘specification’ or ‘spec’. It lays out the invention in such detail that a person familiar with the technology can implement it. You should definitely take some time to read the Tesla’s patent specification in its entirety. You will surely find it interesting.
⚫ There are few other data fields in a patent; we will come to them later.
Contd…
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