Registering a patent is a time-consuming procedure. As soon as you file, you incur costs with INPI. If your patent is refused, you’ve lost money, and what’s more, it could be available to anyone! Even if your invention has great potential, and a priori meets the criteria for patentability, common mistakes can prevent you from obtaining your industrial property title! Here are 3 ways in which you can make your invention unpatentable.
1 – Over-enthusiasm
Eureka! Your invention turns out to be revolutionary. It could well change the daily lives of thousands of people, and turn your industry upside down.
Immediately, you want to tell your friends, family and even business partners. You urgently need to find the funding to develop the first prototypes, and thus make your discovery a reality!
We understand that, but be careful! Once an invention has been disclosed, it is no longer new, and therefore no longer patentable. So frame all your relationships around confidentiality agreements, which guarantee respect for novelty and prevent people who might be too enthusiastic from discussing your invention for you, making it irremediably unpatentable!
To exploit the invention, it’s only natural that you should communicate in the press, or share your knowledge with your colleagues. After all, it’s also a scientific breakthrough! But even if you file a patent application the day after presenting your invention at a conference, it can no longer be patented.
Making an invention public removes its novelty criterion, and therefore its patentability.
Did you know? Industrial property attorneys are bound by professional secrecy. With them, as with your lawyer, there’s no need for confidentiality agreements. Confidentiality is at the heart of our values and ethics.
More information.
2 – Filing your patent far too late
Even if you’re working in total secrecy, and you’re certain that you’re the only person in the world with all the elements needed to exploit an invention, it’s better to apply for a patent as soon as possible!
In fact, while you may think that you have your whole life ahead of you to complete this administrative formality, this is not quite true.
By the time you’ve got your prototype up and running, and canvassed your partners, you run the risk of being caught out by a competitor developing an idea similar to yours and filing a patent on the same invention first. And you risk finding out too late, because a patent remains secret atINPI for 18 months before being published.
And the monopoly granted by a patent belongs to the first to file the patent, not the first to invent!
So don’t delay: it’s better to consult an IP attorney too early, when the invention is not yet ripe for patenting, than too late when a competitor has already filed a patent on it and taken a 20-year monopoly. An IP attorney can also make suggestions for improving the patentability of your invention, and can enlighten you on existing prior art in the field of your invention, which may give a new direction to your project!
3 – No research into the anteriority of the invention
A patent is granted for a new technical solution with an industrial application. In this sense, the content of a patent still in force can be used against your invention. The use of a molecule in cosmetics, agri-food or pharmaceuticals… the same patent can have multiple applications!
Even if it is not compulsory to carry out a prior art search prior art search for a patent before filing, it is strongly recommended. It saves you time, and money! From the outset, it’s a good idea to be accompanied by an industrial property attorney.
If your invention is already covered by a patent in force :
- you can contact the owner to negotiate an operating license, and save time on research and development,
- you ensure that you are not at the origin of a counterfeit that would have legal and financial consequences for you,
- you won’t waste time and money on an unsuccessful patent application (in the event ofopposition, or simple refusal by INPI).
To give your invention the best chance of being patented, we advise you to file your application as soon as possible. Above all, a patentability study and a prior art search by an accredited patent attorney will provide you with the best possible support.
