As a product developer, you likely put a lot of time and resources into developing your product. You want to be sure that you will not face any legal issues when you launch your product. This is where a Freedom to Operate (FTO) analysis comes in. Read More Continue Reading Why should I perform a Freedom to Operate (FTO) analysis before launching my product?
As employee inventors continue to file more patents with the Patent office, it’s important that you encourage them to do the same within your company. There are many ways in which a company can encourage its employee inventors to file for more patents. If you’re ready to help your company get even more value out of your employee inventor program, you should follow these tips. Read More Continue Reading How to Encourage Employee Inventors in Your Company to File for…
If you’ve come up with an idea for a new product, you might be wondering if it’s worth filing a patent to protect that idea. After all, patents can be expensive to obtain and challenging to understand. Do you really need one? The answer is probably yes. Read More Continue Reading 5 Reasons Why You Should File Patents Over Your Inventions
This post was first published on 14th November, 2014.
Next up in the series of Wacky Patents is a board game which has spooked people for ages! This humble board game has been a source of spook for many. Ouija (pronounced wee-jee) is derived from compounded French word, ‘Oui’ and German word, ‘Ja’, both meaning “Yes”. It was originally a trademark owned by Kennedy Novelty Co. which later became generic when people started to use the word for any talking board. What…
First Publication Date: 29th December 2010
In an extremely globalized world where we talk of reducing our carbon footprint, it is obvious that the leaders of tomorrow would be those who can use the alternatives to non renewable sources of energy to the fullest. Green technologies like Solar Energy, Hydel Power and Wind energy are being researched upon the world over and the least the governments can do is provide more and more incentives for development of these technologies.
The U.S.…
First Publication Date: 10th December 2010.
Patents protect inventions by granting exclusive rights for a period of twenty years and trade secrets protect any information having business value as long as the information can be maintained secret. Unlike patents, trade secrets need not be registered and will remain valid based on measures taken by the trade secret holder. The subject matter of trade secrets is very broad and a very small portion of that subject matter relating to inventions overlaps with…
First Publication Date: 6th December 2010
Licensing is one of the important ways by which companies generate revenue from their patents. Assignment or licensing is the only way by which many dedicated research firms, that develop a portfolio of patents through focussed research make money. For many knowledge driven companies patents add value by providing competitive advantage or business advantage through exclusivity. Decision with respect to investments in R and D are made by most companies based on possibilities of patent…
First Publication Date: 28th October 2010.
Misuse of traditional knowledge and measures to prevent the same have been attracting attention since the turmeric patent controversy. After successfully revoking turmeric patent claims that formed part of traditional knowledge, the Indian government has taken numerous initiatives ranging from legislative and policy changes to documentation and creation of a library of information (TKDL). With the press and media joining the effort, the awareness with respect to rights of traditional knowledge holders , actions…
First Publication Date: 24th June 2010.
A patent was granted to CSIR with respect to a composition useful for protecting and/or repairing DNA from oxidative damages. The value of cow's urine has been emphasized in ancient Indian texts including the rig veda. Cow's urine is known to not only have medicinal value but is also used to purify ayurvedic medicines. The patent granted to CSIR claims a composition for preventing and repairing damage to DNA due to oxidation. The patent…
This post was first published on February 24, 2010.
If the 19th February decision (G02/08) from the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) at the EPO is to be simplistically interpreted, “Swiss” Type claims are indeed history.
As most of our readers must be aware of the nature of a “Swiss” type of claim language. A “Swiss” type claim is essentially used to cover the so called Second, Third and Subsequent uses/medical indications of a known substance or composition. Taking our readers a…