If you are an entrepreneur or have an invention, creation of an object, or improvement of an object, you must consider these three keys to know if you effectively have a patent that is susceptible to being registered:
- Identify if the invention is considered a patent
Patents are not ideas, but rather the protection granted to the materialization of them through inventions of products, procedures, manufacturing methods, machines, or formulations for a chemical or pharmaceutical product.
Keep in mind that trademarks, creations that consist of copyright registrations, discoveries, living beings, scientific theories, mathematical, therapeutic, surgical, financial, or business methods, uses of products, or software cannot be patented.
Likewise, your creation must comply with the following elements:
- Novelty: corresponds to the creation not having been known to the public, whether in writing, orally, or similar.
- Inventive Step: means that the invention itself was not obvious to a person skilled in the relevant art, that is, it is clearly a complex creation of a new element.
- Industrial Applicability: consists of the invention being capable of being manufactured or used in any field of industry.
Additionally, you must verify the type of creation you have, since each invention may correspond to a patent, which can be considered as a proper INVENTION, that is, the creation of something novel to society, or as a UTILITY MODEL, which is considered any creation whose purpose is an innovation or improvement of existing products, whether these modifications improve processes or result in functions different from the original ones. Also, INDUSTRIAL DESIGNS may include all those combinations of figures, lines, and colors incorporated into an industrial project for ornamental purposes or three-dimensional forms for manufacturing patterns of industrial products.
The invention patent has a protection of 20 years, the utility model 10 years, and the industrial design 10 years.
- State of the art study
Once you have verified whether your creation corresponds to an invention, utility model, or industrial design, a search must be carried out for documents, elements, or any information accessible to the general public about inventions, creations, or situations that have been registered and that may be similar to the creation you wish to patent. This is so that the creation subject to registration complies with the characteristics required to be considered an invention, utility model, or industrial design, as well as the elements of novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability.
- Preparation of patent documents
Finally, you must have the documents, drawings, designs, and other physical or digital elements through which the idea subject to invention, utility model, or industrial design was captured, and that they comply with:
- Description: a clear and complete explanation of the invention such that an expert in the field can carry it out, which must contain information on the technological sector to which the invention belongs, an explanation of the technical problem and the solution that the invention can provide, and ways of carrying out the invention.
- Claims: the claims are the novel technical features of the invention for which legal protection is sought through the patent.
- Drawings: (if necessary) their purpose is to contribute to a better understanding and dissemination of the invention.
- Abstract: brief information about the invention allowing easy understanding of the technical problem posed and the solution provided by the invention.
Finally, we remind you that patent registration applications are filed through the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce.