What does IP or intellectual property rights mean?

Intellectual Property (IP) refers to intellectual creations, such as inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and symbols, names and images used in commerce. There are several types of intellectual property rights (IPR) with patents being one of them. You can also protect a design, a logo, a name or copyright and trademarks. IPRs are protected by law and enable people to gain recognition or gain financial benefit from what they invent or create.

How do I protect my idea through a patent?

It is important to consider early on whether you want to commercialize or make use of your research and whether this means that you need to protect your idea. One of the most important forms of this is through patenting. In order to obtain a patent or IP, it is an absolute requirement that the results have not been published or made public in any other way. Remember that some applications count as public documents, as do lectures and other occasions when you talk about your discoveries to a larger group.

At KI patent is the most common option when it comes to protecting your idea

So what is a patent?

A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention, which is a product or a process that generally provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem. In general, the patent holder has the exclusive right to prevent others from commercially exploiting the patented invention. Patents are territorial rights. This means that you usually have to apply for a patent separately in all the countries where you want to act. The protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the date of submission of the application. For patents covering pharmaceuticals, there may sometimes be a patent extension of up to five years. 

Patents are territorial rights. This means that you usually have to apply for a patent separately in all the countries where you want to act. The protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the date of submission of the application. For patents covering pharmaceuticals, there may sometimes be a patent extension of up to five years.

How can I get a patent?

Inventions are only patentable if they are new, inventive and industrially applicable. It is incredibly important to keep track of certain parameters that apply to patents. We at KI Innovations will help you with this, but we need to get in early so that no mistakes have already been made.

• If the invention has become available to the public, for example through publication in a journal, online or in an application for research funding that is available to the public, the invention is no longer new. Therefore, it is important that a patent application is submitted before any form of publication of the invention takes place.

• Invention height means that the invention should not be obvious to a person skilled in the technical field in question.

• The requirement for industrial applicability means that the invention must be able to be utilized industrially – it cannot just be an idea.

We support you who are part of START or DRIVE with patent assessment and patent application

We usually do a patentability assessment before submission with the help of our patent lawyers with whom we collaborate, because applying for a patent is costly. If the invention turns out to be patentable, the next step is to file your patent application with a national patent authority. If you have failed to make an international application (PCT, Patent Cooperation Treaty), it can be submitted within a twelve-month period. The PCT application covers approximately 152 countries. The due date for entry into the national or regional phase is normally 30 months from the priority date, i.e. by this time the applicant must have decided in which specific countries/regions patent protection is desired and commence the entry of the PCT application into the national/regional phase in which and one of these countries/regions. The patent application is published 18 months from the priority date of the first filed patent application.

How much does it cost to get a patent?

Professional support for drafting a patent application varies depending on the scope of the patent application but costs from approximately SEK 50,000 – 70,000. This is in addition to the official fees for the application (approximately SEK 3,000-15,000). Filing a PCT application costs from SEK 31,000 in fees, in addition to patent attorney costs. In connection with the examination in each country, additional patent attorney costs and official fees arise. After the patent is granted, an annual fee must be paid to the patent office in each country to maintain the validity of the patent. This means that the total cost of a patent family from application to grant in approximately 10 countries can easily exceed SEK 1 million. It is therefore important to be careful when choosing in which countries and when to submit a patent application. We will be happy to help you through this process together with our patent attorneys.

You can find more information here:
Patent, varumärke, design och copyright: www.prv.se
Patent, varumärke, design och copyright: www.wipo.int
Patent: www.epo.org
Varumärke, design: www.uipo.europa.eu
Patent och varumärke: www.uspto.gov