PROTECTING YOUR INVENTION

Keep your valuable research results and inventions safe/protected and improve their commercial viability.

Together with you, we assess your work; if viable, we draft a commercialization strategy and submit a patent application. Getting feasibility studies done and securing IP is crucial!

WHAT IS PATENTABLE?

 

To be patentable, your invention needs to meet the following criteria:

  • novelty
  • innovativeness
  • industrial applicability
  • not belonging to categories such as …

Establishing whether your invention meets these criteria is a complicated, time and money consuming process. Although patenting is expensive, often it is well worth it. If your invention is not properly protected, you risk losing all IP rights.

Before any public disclosure of your research results, think about patenting!
You could easily be denied a patent for your invention if the underlying research is already published.

No information should be made public, under any circumstances, nowhere in the world before you submit your patent application.

Keep your research classified and avoid:

  • Disclosure through project proposals
  • Publications in journals
  • Presentations at seminars, conferences …
  • Information published on the Internet
  • Abstracts, science posters and exhibitions
  • E-mails
  • Any disclosure without a NDA/CDA, etc.

Any “leakage” of information regarding your invention can severely jeopardize its patenting.
CTT UB will not prevent you from publishing your work

If you have some new and/or additional information regarding a patent that you already filed for, be sure to consult your patent attorney before any public disclosure in order to update your patent application first.

Patent application draft

 

The first step to filing a patent application is completing an Invention Disclosure Form containing important information which will help the patent attorney in drafting the patent application. The patent attorney needs to file a full and detailed specification of the invention pointing out its novelty and specificity compared to prior art. The specification should include at least one possible application of the invention. Therefore, all experiments/tests and/or prototypes should also be taken into account.

 

We encourage you to consider all possible applications of your work even if it is out-of-the-box. The patent application will be published 18 months after the filing date.

Research team

 

An accurate listing of of inventors is essential when a patent application is filed (When filing a patent application, it is essential that the inventors are properly listed). Although there is often a whole research team involved in the creation of an invention, no more than two or three people can be listed as the actual inventors. Associated researchers may be included as co-authors in academic publications, but not in the patent application.

Inaccurately established inventorship can put your patent application at risk.

Don’t worry. CTT UB is here assist you in determining the proper inventors when you file a patent application.

PATENT SEARCH

 

Patent applications and granted patents are published by patent offices worldwide making documentation about them available. Published patents provide plenty of information which researchers might want to access for different reasons:

  • Assess the patentability of their own work in comparison with existing publications
  • Examine how patents are written to clarify the scope of an invention.
  • As initial research when starting their own project.
  • Ensuring that the planned commercial activities don’t infringe on patents which are in effect.

Published information about patents can be accessed free via several websites, among which European Patent Office, Google patents, WIPO etc.

 

With its experience and knowledge, CTT UB can assist you in patent searching.

The patent application process

 

Generally, patent applications are first filed in Serbia, which provides an international ‘priority date’. After 12 months, an international application is filed through the PCT system.

 

This allows you to establish patentability in a large number of countries by filing a single patent application.

 

In most countries, the lifespan of a patent is 20 years from the date of application.

patent protection

Timescales and activities

 

Here are the timescales for different steps in the patenting process:

  • 0-12 months – the patent application is filed in Serbia and thePriority date is established. Further/additional information/research regarding the invention must be submitted/completed within the next 12 months. This period is crucial in making the patent more valuable.
  • Within 1 year – an updated application is filed; data and information on the invention can be added at this stage.
  • Within 18 months – the patent application is published along with the search report.
  • 2-4 years – the patent examiner’s report is issued. (The patent attorney works together with the technology transfer manager, the inventor and the examiner to determine the patent claims).
  • 5-7 years – the patent is granted/refused in each of the designated countries.
  • 4-20 years – annual renewal fees are payable.