1. Patents
Amy Bilton
Knowledge Transfer Officer

2. Overview What is a patent? How do patents relate to CERN’s mission?
How do we patent?

3. Overview What is a patent? How do patents relate to CERN’s mission?
How do we patent?

4. A patent is a negative Intellectual Property Right (IPR)
...it is intended to prevent others from using your invention
Recognises the creator of an invention
Prevents others from using the invention
Enforceable by the law
You do not require a patent to use your own invention. However, as an employee of an organisation you typically assign your ownership rights over to your employer. This means you will need to get a licence to use your own invention if you want to use it outside of the context of your normal work activities.

5. Characteristics of some IPR’s
Patent
Trademark
Copyright
Rationale
Incentive to invent
Public access to knowledge
Avoid confusion about source of goods / services
Protection of authors
Subject-matter
Inventions – solutions to technical problems
Words
Phrases
Symbols
Designs,
Sounds
Works of authorship, tangibly expressed.
Criteria
New
Inventive
Industrially applicable
Capable of distinguishing goods/services
Original work of authorship
Duration
20 years
Indefinite, subject to use
Life + 70 yrs
70 yrs after publication

6. What can be patented? Inventions which are: Prior Art
1) New – not already in prior art
2) Inventive – not obvious to someone skilled in the art
3) Industrially applicable – solves a technical problem
Date of Filing
Prior Art

7. Patent
A patent describes the concept of the invention – i.e. the solution to the technical problem. It does not protect the drawings or schematics (these would be protected by copyright).
Schematics

8. What does a patent look like?
Bibliographic Information
Abstract
Description
Drawings
Claims

9. Patents become published information

10. Patents become published information
Look out for our course “Finding happiness in patent databases”
(Autumn 2017, date TBD)

11. Overview What is a patent? How do patents relate to CERN’s mission?
How do we patent?

12. Knowledge Dissemination ?
Patents and CERN
The right to prevent others from copying your invention
Knowledge Dissemination ?

13. Licensing Patents and CERN
The opportunity to enable others to copy your invention
under agreed conditions
Licensing

14. Overview What is a patent? How do patents relate to CERN’s mission?
How do we patent?

15. The Patent System Patent Application Granted Patent Publication
Applicant
Patent
System
Patent
Application
Granted
Patent
Publication
Society

16. Knoweldge Transfer (KT) Group
How do we patent?
Inventors
Knoweldge Transfer (KT) Group
Patent attorney
Patent office(s)

17. How is a patent obtained ?
Inventors
Assessment
& Search
Assessment
Review KT
Patent Attorneys
Novelty
Search
Drafting
Filing
Patent Office
Date of
Filing

18. How is a patent obtained ?
Inventors
Assessment
& Response
Assessment
& Response KT
Patent Attorneys
Patent Office
Search
Examination
Date of
Filing
Patent
Granted

19. Patents and publications
When can you publish without jeopardizing your patent application ?

20. Publish only after filing (typically)
Inventors
Assessment
& Search
Assessment
Review KT
Patent Attorneys
Novelty
Search
Drafting
Filing
Patent Office
Date of
Filing

21. Patents cost money! 20 years Prosecution (approx. 3 – 5 years) Renewal
Cumulative CHF for an application covering Europe, US and Japan
Renewal fees (CHF) 0K 6K
7.5K
50K
60K
+1K per country, per year until end date
Search for commercial partners (licensing)
Revenue

22. Using your know-how Not published (secret) Service / Consultancy
License

23. How do we disseminate ? “Technology push” Patenting decision (yes/no)
Disclosure
Meeting
Assessment
Marketing
Agreement
Patenting decision
(yes/no)

24. How do we disseminate ? “Market pull” Agreement Meeting
Marketing
External contact
Technology Identification
Meeting
Agreement

25. CERN Patents filed in 2015/16 Continuously Transposed Conducting Cable
Applications:
Superconducting magnets (e.g. MRI)
Superconducting generators and transformers (e.g. wind mills)
Scintillator array with Depth of Interaction Information
Applications:
Positron
Emission
Tomography

26. Look out for our course “Finding happiness in patent databases”
Any questions ?
Look out for our course “Finding happiness in patent databases”
(Autumn 2017, date TBD)