Drafting the application is a strategic process. What you include and omit in your application has a major impact on the scope of any protection granted. Once the application has been filed, it is difficult to have it amended.
The timing of your application relative to your company’s development process and business plan may therefore determine whether the application contains the information that may prove important to you at a later stage. It also has an impact on whether the company is financially and commercially equipped to make decisions and investments at the right time, which a patenting process demands. We assist you in your strategic considerations and help you balance the need to protect your ideas and your resources.
Learn how we help Hydract A/S with commercialiseing their patents.
What can you protect with a patent?
You can draft your patent application yourself and file it with the authorities. However, there is no standard template or form that could guide you. And your application will need to meet a wide range of requirements, if you want to have the best chance of having the patent granted.
- Your invention must be novel. An invention is considered to be novel if, in its entirety, it is not obviously described in prior art. ‘Prior art’ is any evidence that, at the time you file the application, the technology is already known to the public by a written or oral description, use or any other means. You should be careful not to show or mention your invention at trade fairs, in articles or otherwise.
- Your invention must have an inventive step. This means that in order to be patented, your invention must differ significantly from prior art in the same or other technology areas.
- Your invention must be capable of being used in a commercial context, meaning that it must be susceptible to industrial application, e.g. in trade, industry or agriculture.
Your invention must meet the three criteria in order to be patentable.
How to apply for a patent?
First and foremost, you should consider the geographical location where it makes sense to protect your invention.
Is it relevant only in Denmark or does the business also have activities in export markets? This is relevant to determine the type of application to file. It is possible to make a national application in Denmark or another country, but you may also file a European (EP application) or an international application (PCT application).
Consequently, it is important to define a strategy for the markets in which the product is to be sold now and in the future. At Patrade, we have long-standing experience in patents and in preparing patent applications. To ensure the best start possible, we recommend making a novelty search in different data bases.
Against this background, we can assess in advance whether the invention will meet the patent application requirements, but we also use the results from the novelty search to design and prepare the patent application so that it will meet the requirements of the various patent authorities in terms of format, while also providing you, as our customer, with the greatest possible value in terms of scope of protection.
Naturally, we will also handle all the correspondence until your patent has been issued – either directly with the authorities or, where necessary, through our international network of highly skilled and carefully selected agents and collaboration partners.
Moreover, you need to comply with a number of formal rules regarding the description of your invention. During the application process, you will often need to adjust the claims in your application. Such adjustments may only be made within a set framework and only on the basis of the contents of your original application. It is therefore crucial to the value of your application and the strength of the patent granted that your patent application contains all essential information and that it is presented optimally in terms of regulatory requirements, processing and long-term protection of your products and developments. Our best advice is to leave the application to an expert, and we would be more than happy to help you.