1. Patent application procedure (…and costs)
Knowledge Transfer Group

2. Reminder... 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

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

4. Application procedure...
Inventors
Assessment
& Search
Assessment
Review KT
Patent Attorneys
Novelty
Search
Drafting
Filing
Patent Office
Date of
Filing

5. Question...
When can you disclose information about your invention without jeopardizing your patent application?

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

7. Application procedure, cont...
Inventors
Assessment
& Response
Assessment
& Response KT
Patent Attorneys
Patent Office
Search
Examination
Date of
Filing
Patent
Granted

8. Patent families – International context
Cooperation
Treaty
(PCT)
(1978)

9. Regional/ national phase
PCT phase
Regional/ national phase
Publication
Convert to PCT (if national filing)
USA
National or PCT filing GB
Europe (EP) DE FR
Japan
Priority application
S. Korea 12 18 30
48 – 60
Time
(months)

10. PCT vs. Paris Convention

11. 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

12. Patent application v. patent
Document as submitted to the patent office.
Patent:
Document as granted (i.e. approved) by the patent office
How can you distinguish between the two ?
It is written on the document
A = Application
B = Patent

13. European patents European Patent Convention (1973)
Important: There is (currently) no such thing as a European patent that is legally enforcable over all European countries.
Once a European patent is granted it must be validated, and subsequently renewed, in each individual country of the applicant(s)’ choosing.

14. Questions?