Patents, its Types and Importance of Patent Due Diligence
You may have heard about proprietary rights and patents, but do you know what exactly they entail and what types you can apply for?
A patent is a legally binding, detailed document that upholds the rights of the individual inventor or discoverer. It provides exclusive property rights to the inventor that exempts others from copying, using, or selling the item in question (its design and functionality) for the designated duration of the patent term. Once the individual (or a company) acquires a patent, he/she gains legal authority over that product and can restrict any other party from using or selling the invention in the country where the patent was granted. You can leverage the patent right to fund and start your own business or you can rent out your patent rights to an already established business. With a patent, you can ensure that no other person or organization is permitted to use, sell, or offer your patented service or solution. In case they attempt to do any of the above, you can take legal action against such infringer.
The 2 major patents that are different yet interrelated
Utility Patent:
It is one of the most common types of patent that people enquire about. It mainly provides legal rights to the original maker over processes, compositions, machines, and productions that are new and useful. A utility patent can also be obtained for improvements introduced in the existing processes, compositions of matter, machines, and manufactures’. It prohibits other individuals or companies from making, using, or selling the invention without authorization.
Design patent:
Design patents are patents granted for providing rights over the original and ornamental designs of the manufactured products. The curvy bottle shape of a popular carbonated drink brand for instance, is protected by a design patent. Interestingly, the document itself contains mostly pictures or drawings of the design of the respective item. In recent years, software companies too have been seeking design patents to protect elements of user interfaces and the shape of touchscreen devices.
Here it’s important to note that while a design patent protects only the appearance or look of an article, the structural or functional features are covered under utility patent.
Role of patent due diligence in Business
Innovations and novel business ideas are some of the crucial things that companies need to guard in order to maintain their market positioning and earn a competitive advantage over other players. This implies that intangible assets like copyright, trademarks, goodwill, and especially patents need to be carefully handled. In today’s digital era where technology is refining all sectors, these intangible assets act as critical factors that make any venture or investment more secure and viable.
In this respect, Patent due diligence serves as an essential and cost-effective tool that helps to maintain and tailor a strong patent portfolio that can protect your business from probable infringement risks posed by competitor’s patents or patents of other third parties. You enjoy the freedom of venturing into new fields without getting into the conflicts of product clearances with other patent inventors and consultants.
Patent Due Diligence can keep you in the know, helping you make informed decisions, whether you are trying to build stronger business relationships, are planning a merger or acquisition, need to learn more about capital markets, or are looking for ways to improve public relations and corporate social responsibility. All in all, patent due diligence helps to make sound business decisions and supports your business objectives.
CRIF Patent Due Diligence Report
The CRIF Patent Due Diligence Report is designed to deliver precise information about the patents available worldwide. Backed with massive data and artificial intelligence, it enables the companies to obtain valuable information related to Coverage and Status, Technologies, Owner, and Value. This in turn helps in attaching correct value to the patents and helping you make informed decisions.
You can request a Patent Due Diligence Report from CRIF and garner information about companies anywhere in the world. With the access to in-depth information about patents, evaluating a business prospect in terms of its research and development approach gets easier.
An overview of patent assets
Geographical Coverage
Remaining Life
High Value
Technology and Patent Deployment
Technical Fields
Technical Timeline
Peer Comparison
Key Inventors
Any user can obtain CRIF’s Patent Due Diligence Report for their target company with just a simple request. CRIF’s advanced algorithms analyze and provide up-to-date patent asset status and accurate evaluation of the firm’s patents from WIPO, EPO, and key Patent Offices of US, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, India, and many others.
Choose the most effective patent due diligence approach and stay ahead of the curve!
