Selling your Invention

 

Jane Lambert

The European IP Helpdesk has recently published a fact sheet on intellectual property assignments entitled Commercialising Intellectual Property: Assignment Agreements which can be downloaded from the EU Publication Office.  I mention it because the European Patent Office's Inventors' Handbook suggests an outright sale of a patent, patent application or other intellectual property right as a possible way in which an inventor can exploit his or her invention.

In my experience, it is rare for inventors who are not employed by companies in research and development or universities in academic research to assign their inventions to a business that is established in the industry for which the invention was created.  As I explained in How to Make Money from your Invention: Licensing on 15 Sept 2017, it is hard enough to find a business that is prepared to take a licence.  Most are even more reluctant to carry out due diligence and pay a lump sum to an inventor from outside their industry.

It is much more likely that a business that has developed an article that does not fit in its product range or a process that it is unlikely to use may offer its invention to others.  In the United States, there are established online and physical marketplaces for the sale of intellectual rights.  That is not yet the case here though there are businesses like Inngot Limited which will prepare an intellectual asset for sale.

Both potential purchasers and vendors should take legal and tax advice before embarking on negotiations,  The vendor should satisfy itself that it will never need to use the invention or the work leading up to its creation again.  If that is not the case it will need to negotiate licences.  The purchaser should satisfy itself that the vendor is entitled to sell the invention, that its use will not infringe other parties' patents or other intellectual property rights and that the patent, patent application or other legal protection is sufficient,   A mechanism for valuing the intellectual asset will have to be agreed.   In the UK and most other countries, the assignment must be in writing and signed by all parties.  The assignment should also be recorded at the intellectual property office of every relevant country.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact page, 

Animated Advice from across the Pond

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Jane Lambert

In Animated Advice 18 March 2016 NIPC News I introduced readers to some animations published by the Intellectual Property Office, the World Intellectual Property Organization and others. One of the films I mentioned was the IPO's IP BASICS: Should I get a patent?

Today I want to share with you an even more helpful animation published by the US Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") so long as you bear in mind that the USA is a different country, with different institutions and different laws. However, the United States like the United Kingdom is party to a number of international agreements such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS") which requires each country's intellectual property laws to be broadly similar.

Here are also some points to bear in mind for British readers:

• The USPTO is the place to start for inventors in the USA because it is the intellectual property office for that country but inventors in this country can start either at the Intellectual Property Office in Newport (look you) or the European Patent Office in Munich ("there's lovely for you!" as they say in Wales).
• Our law does not expressly define an invention though it does list a number of things that can't be patented as such like computer programs or methods of doing business which are not specifically excluded in US law. Also, we cut out some of the verbiage like "machine" or "composition of matter." Basically, an invention can be patented on this side of the Atlantic if it is a product or process.
• One reason why I really like this animation is that it advises inventors to consider writing a business plan and carry out some market research. I've been ramming that message home in my IP clinics, talks to inventors' clubs and blogs for years. Here is just one of my articles: "Why every business plan should take account of intellectual property" 3 Apr 2016 NIPC News.
• The places where you can get help with your invention in this country would be the Business and IP Centres at the British Library next to St Pancras Station in London and the central libraries of Birmingham, Exeter, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Manchester, Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich and Sheffield. Those libraries are also part of a wider network of public libraries that are associated with the EPO called PatLib. If you study the list you will find help available in Aberdeen. Belfast, Glasgow, Plymouth and Portsmouth.  We no longer have anything quite as good as Business USA.gov in this country but we do have the Business and Self-Employed pages of the gov.uk website. Also, you can call me on 020 7404 5252 any time during business hours and I can point you in the right direction.
• As in the USA, you can apply to the IPO or EPO for a patent without instructing a patent attorney but I would strongly advise you against it.  I know patent attorneys don't come cheap but there are funding schemes here to help you (see How Small Businesses can fund IP Advice and Representation 3 Sept 2016 NIPC News). By the way, the terms "patent agent" and "patent attorney" mean different things in the USA. There, a patent attorney means a lawyer specializing in IP but a patent agent is a non-legally qualified professional who prosecutes patent applications. Here, the terms patent attorneys and patent agents are used interchangeably. Patent attorneys in the UK are members of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys which used to be called the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents until a few years ago. Finally, the expression "pro se" is not used in this country. Those who apply for patents without the help of patent attorneys are usually referred to as "unrepresented applicants". 
• In this country, we don't have "utility", "design" or "plant patents" as such but we do have registered and registered Community designs (for the time being) and EU and national plant breeders' rights  (see Jane Lambert Protecting Investment in New Plant Varieties 4 May 2016 LinkedIn). What Americans call "utility patents" are simply "patents" here.
• There is no call centre in Newport or Munich like the Inventors Assistance Center but both the IPO and EPO publish guidance for unrepresented applicants on their websites and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, Ideas 21 and I hold free consultations with an IP professional at towns and cities around the UK. Check out CIPA's IP Clinics page and Ideas 21's regular advice sessions in London. Mine are held in Barnsley on the second Tuesday of every month and you can book your appointment through the BarnsleyBiz Surgeries page.

Wherever you are in the country, you can call me on 020 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.

Applying for Patent Protection through the Patent Co-operation Treaty without a Patent Attorney

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Today the Intellectual Property Office has published a 32-page guide entitled Patent Co-operation Treaty for Private Applicants. A private applicant is someone who wants to apply for a patent without using a patent attorney (also known as "a patent agent").

On the third page of the booklet the following warning appears in capital letters:

"THE PCT SYSTEM IS COMPLEX. YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO SEEK THE HELP OF A CHARTERED PATENT AGENT."

I endorse that warning. It is not too difficult for a reasonably intelligent and well-educated  business owner to register a design or even a trade mark but obtaining patent prevention is a completely different ball game.

A patent is a monopoly of an invention which is granted only if the invention is new, not obvious, useful and falls outside a number of statutory exceptions and a document known as "the specification" discloses the invention with sufficient clarity and detail for the invention to be made or worked by anyone with the right skills or experience. Drawing up the specification is not easy. If it is too wide it may be invalid and if it is too narrow competitors can often make use of the concept without infringing the patent.  It takes several years of book learning and on the job experience for a graduate in a natural science, engineering or technology to learn how to draft such specifications. If you haven't had that training your chances of getting it right are not good.

Nevertheless, there are folk who have a go at drafting their own patent applications and for them the IPO has published a series of guides starting with Before you apply for a patent and continuing with Patents Step By Step and Patenting your Invention.

Now the IPO can only grant you a patent for the UK which is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard if you want to make or sell your invention anywhere else. There is no such thing as a world patent or even a European Union patent though our government did sign an agreement for a unitary patent which would have covered the territories of most European Union countries including the UK but Brexit has probably put paid to that (see  IP and Brexit: Private Inventors 5 July 2016), If you want patent protection for your invention outside the United Kingdom you have to rely on an international agreement known as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property which gives you one year in which to apply for patents everywhere else.

Now it is at this point that I advise you to watch and listen to the above video in which Matthias Reischle outlines your options. Basically, you can apply to the patent office of each country or group of countries in which you require protection or you can apply simultaneously to the patent offices of most countries of the world under another international agreement known as the Patent Cooperation Treaty ("PCT"). It is for applications under the PCT that the IPO has prepared its guide. However, before reading that guide I strongly advise you to work your way through all the videos produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization ("the WIPO"), the UN Agency for Intellectual Property. entitled How to file your International Application.

I would add that it is worth your while to read these materials even if you do intend to instruct a patent attorney because IP is crucial to your business. It is much too important for you to leave to lawyers and patent attorneys. If you want to learn more about this topic or patenting generally, call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 during office hours or send me a message through my contact form.