Protecting your invention
If you have developed a new invention that improves the way of doing something and it brings a real benefit, you may have something to patent. Patents cover both products and processes.
This website will offer limited functionality in this browser. We only support the recent versions of major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
If you have developed a new invention that improves the way of doing something and it brings a real benefit, you may have something to patent. Patents cover both products and processes.
Patents are a valuable intellectual property right and protect the invention regardless of how it looks and is embodied. A registered design, in comparison, protects the overall appearance of a product whilst copyright protects the form of the work.
Typically, a patent will provide the owner with a monopoly right for a limited time (usually 20 years). This can be relied upon to prevent a third party from operating within the scope of the patent claims.
Infringement of a patent will be established where a third party makes, disposes of or offers to dispose of, uses or imports a patented product (or a product obtained by way of a patented process), or keeps it. It’s worth noting that:
Patents usually take a few years to be granted and are of a significant expense.
As a result of their wide rights, patents are rigorously examined to ensure they are valid against any prior art (i.e. evidence that the invention is known in the marketplace). It is important that you do not disclose your invention to any third party other than your legal advisor (who is bound by legal privilege) before you file the patent unless there is a suitable non-disclosure agreement in place. Otherwise, your patent will be invalid if the disclosure made by you enables a third party to put the invention into effect.
To be a patentable invention you will need, to show that it:
Certain inventions are excluded – such as discoveries, scientific theories, mathematical methods, schemes or methods of doing business, computer programs and presentations of information. However, it may be possible to secure a patent for a computer program if it improves the way of doing something.
As patents are national territorial rights, you will need to consider which countries you wish to secure rights within as it would not be economical or efficient to cover every country in the world. You can either secure the rights separately in each country of interest or file an international patent designating certain countries, where the rights will ultimately become national rights in the designated country. Enforcement of patent rights must be carried out on a country-by-country basis.
Our partner patent attorneys will guide you through this process and ensure that you adopt a sensible and cost-effective program to meet your commercial needs.
If you wish to explore with us if your invention can be patented, do get in touch. We can offer you a short and free consultation with one of the patent attorneys we partner with for such work. This would give you a good steer on whether or not to pursue a patent application.
At Foot Anstey, we work with you to consider your present and future commercial goals and ensure our patent advice is strategic and suitable for your short and long term intentions with your invention.
Our expert patent lawyers take a holistic approach to your instruction and will advise you not only on what (and how) to protect your patent, but how such rights will be enforced and how to exploit your rights. We will take time to get to know you and your objectives and then cut through the legal jargon to provide clear advice on how best to achieve your goals. We collaborate with you to ensure that our advice is easily integrated and actionable. Our advice ensures that clients have strong rights, which helps to reduce the number of disputes and to make any current disputes much easier and less expensive to resolve.
The team work regularly with reputable patent attorneys and partner law firms all around the world, meaning our advice is specifically tailored to your target market. Through our network, we can reach out quickly to resolve an issue and secure expert advice.
Examples of our experience includes:
For more information on patents and the most commonly asked questions, please review our guide.
Our team, led by renowned IP specialist Paul Cox, will understand what you are trying to achieve and then will advise on the best and most cost effective solutions to enable you to maximize the value and achieve your commercial objectives. Paul has also been admitted into the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for Intellectual Property (South East).
Intellectual property rights are essential to enabling a business to achieve its ambition, and are hugely valuable commercial assets. When understood and protected effectively, they can provide competitive advantage by allowing you to prevent your competitors from standing on your ground and will enable you to maximize your product or service’s value or even generate further revenue through licensing models or the like.
By having a strong and distinctive trade mark, consumers and businesses can easily make repeat purchases in confidence that the additional products and/or services originate from the same undertaking.
For businesses that design and manufacture products either for themselves or others, they should seriously consider obtaining registered design protection for their products.
Being caught up in an IP dispute, either because a third party is infringing your rights, or you are potentially infringing a third party right, is often very concerning. At Foot Anstey, our IP team understands these concerns and has various strategies in place to assist clients with the management and resolution of disputes
At Foot Anstey, our IP team can assist clients with licensing rights and agreements.
Franchising is a powerful tool for businesses with ambitions to grow. A successful franchising model can unlock the hidden value in a franchisor’s brand and know how developed over many years and pair it with a franchisee’s enthusiasm and knowledge of a certain market or audience.
Foot Anstey takes a global and holistic approach to anti-counterfeiting using all the tools available to tackle the problem in the most efficient way.
Intellectual property rights are essential to enabling a business to achieve its ambition, and are hugely valuable commercial assets. When understood and protected effectively, they can provide competitive advantage by allowing you to prevent your competitors from standing on your ground and will enable you to maximize your product or service’s value or even generate further revenue through licensing models or the like.
By having a strong and distinctive trade mark, consumers and businesses can easily make repeat purchases in confidence that the additional products and/or services originate from the same undertaking.
For businesses that design and manufacture products either for themselves or others, they should seriously consider obtaining registered design protection for their products.
Being caught up in an IP dispute, either because a third party is infringing your rights, or you are potentially infringing a third party right, is often very concerning. At Foot Anstey, our IP team understands these concerns and has various strategies in place to assist clients with the management and resolution of disputes
At Foot Anstey, our IP team can assist clients with licensing rights and agreements.
Franchising is a powerful tool for businesses with ambitions to grow. A successful franchising model can unlock the hidden value in a franchisor’s brand and know how developed over many years and pair it with a franchisee’s enthusiasm and knowledge of a certain market or audience.
Foot Anstey takes a global and holistic approach to anti-counterfeiting using all the tools available to tackle the problem in the most efficient way.