Inventors are intelligent individuals who have a thorough understanding of their field of technology. Even the most prolific and successful innovators who work for large, well-established businesses rarely attempt the patent application process without the aid of a licenced patent attorney. Here are seven of the most frequent reasons why a skilled patent attorney in India might be essential to effectively patenting an invention:
Understanding Patent Law
A patent examiner is allowed, under certain circumstances, to deny patent protection to an invention even if it is new and cannot be found in any one piece of prior art. In such cases, a patent examiner will try to make the case that an invention is "obvious" by combining elements from two or more pieces of prior art. Many inventors are surprised to learn this.
Understanding the Process
Before you can discuss the patentability of the invention with a patent examiner, a patent application that sufficiently describes the invention, includes all of the parts in the format required by the Patent Office's rules and guidelines, is accompanied by the required supplementary materials, such as inventor oaths and declarations and application data sheets, and includes payment of the necessary fees, must be prepared and filed.
Preparing the Application
Long before your patent application is ever filed, the patent attorney's understanding of both patent law and administrative procedure is crucial. Your attorney can assist you in identifying the aspects of your invention that are most likely to result in strong patent claims and can structure the patent application to emphasise those aspects while still advocating for the broadest protection possible thanks to the experience gained from prosecuting hundreds of patent applications. As part of this preparation, doing a thorough pre-filing patentability search is frequently required. This can help patent applicants anticipate potential grounds for rejection from patent examiners and enable claims to be written to proactively address those grounds.
Identifying the Best Type of Protection
The "utility" patent, which safeguards an invention's useful components, is the most popular kind of patent. Both a design patent and a plant patent are available to inventors. Unique and novel plant varieties are protected by plant patents, subject to some restrictions. The decorative look of a "item of production" is protected by design patents, which essentially means that the design must be applied to something rather than existing as a piece of art in the abstract.
Experience with Patent Litigation
Good patent lawyers have experience not just obtaining patents for clients but also enforcing issued patents against infringers and defending individuals who are accused of infringement, especially those with experience at full-service intellectual property legal companies. This information is useful not only for defending against challenges to the validity of your invention but also for writing a patent application in the first place and for pursuing the application before a patent examiner.
Relevant Legal Advice
It is not sufficient for innovators and patent owners to get patents in order to succeed. A competent patent lawyer can offer advice on alternatives for pursuing intellectual rights after infringement and assist with negotiating and drafting licence and assignment agreements to maximise the value of a patent.
Your Time is Valuable
While your patent attorney will still value your advice and knowledge throughout the patenting process, it won't be required that you devote all of your time to it. You can devote the time you don't have to learning the nuances of patent law and practise to developing your invention further, coming up with new ideas, working with other experts in your company and in your field, commercialising your inventions, and ultimately taking pleasure in the results of your creativity.
In the industry people often use the words patent agent and patent attorney India quite interchangeably.
However, it is pertinent to mention that these terms are largely different from one another.
As per the qualifications and the functions that they are supposed to perform, the difference between a patent attorney and a patent agent is like chalk from cheese.
Through the below-mentioned information, this difference between the terms will be highlighted and their respective roles will be elucidated upon.
