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What your business needs to know about patent law

On the road from idea to however  inventing success there are thus  many pitfalls that stand thus in the way. One of the biggest pitfalls, unfortunately, is however  incomplete knowledge. There are thus  a great number of things which the inventors should know, from the importance of doing a patent search, to the need for however confidentiality agreements, and also to how to understand when an invention is obvious.

One big problem which the  independent inventors thus  face when they choose in order  to represent themselves is thus with respect to the very real problem of admissions. Truthfully, those who are however   representing themselves should thus  be given patent-style.  Everything which one does  say can and will thus also  be used against you!

However to avoid this problem , every business must however be aware of the patent law . And the purpose of this article however is to make the reader aware of the same.

We will first talk about as to how are the patent rights implemented.
An invention which is relating to a product or a process that is however new and it also involves inventive step and are also capable of the industrial application can thus be patented in India. However, it must also not fall into the category of the inventions that are however non-patentable as it is thus provided under Section 3 and 4 of the (Indian) Patents
Act, 1970.  In India, a patent application can thus be filed, either alone or jointly, by the true and first inventor or his assignee.

If the grant of the patent is thus for a product, then the patentee thus has a right in order to prevent others from making, using, offering for sale, selling or either importing the patented product in India. If the patent is thus for a process, then the patentee also has the right in order to prevent others from using the process, using the product which is however directly
obtained by the process, offering for sale, selling or either importing the product in India which is however directly obtained by the process.
A patent however grant the patentee the exclusive right in order to make or use the patented article or either to use the patented process. He can also prevent all the others from making or either using the patented process. A patentee however also has the right in order to assign
the patent, grant licenses under, or thus otherwise deal with it for any kind of consideration. These rights are however created by the statute and are also circumscribed by the various conditions and the limitations.

For the purpose of implementation of the patent rights , Patent infringement proceedings can thus however only be initiated after grant of patent in India but it may however also include a claim which is however retrospectively from the date of the publication of the application for the purpose of grant of the patent. Infringement of a patent therefore consists
of the unauthorized making, importing, using, offering for sale or selling any kind of patented invention within the India. Under the (Indian) Patents Act, 1970 thus only a civil action can however be initiated in a Court of Law.

Further, also a suit for the purpose of infringement can however also be defended on the various grounds that however also includes the grounds on which a patent thus cannot be granted in India and also be based on
such defence, revocation of the Patent can also be claimed.

Secondly, lets talk about the validity of patent.
There are thus three categories of patents namely :
1. Utility patents are the patents which are most commonly granted for the purpose of protection of the new, useful, non-obvious and the adequately specified processes, machines, compositions of matter, and the articles of manufacture (or any new and useful genuine improvements thereof), for a period which is of 17 years from the date the patent is thus actually issued by the USPTO.

2. Design patents are the patents that issued for new, original, ornamental and the non- obvious designs for the articles of manufacture, for a period of 14 years from the date of issuance.

3. Plant patents which are however (used less frequently) are thus for certain new varieties of plants that have been asexually reproduced, are thus for a term of 17 years.

The term of a patent is however the maximum period during which it thus can be maintained in force. It is thus usually expressed in a number of years that are either starting from the filing date of the patent application or it is either from the date of the grant of the patent. In most of the  patent laws, renewal annuities or maintenance fees are required to be regularly
paid thus in order to keep the patent in force. Otherwise the patent thus lapses before its term.

The term of a patent or the specific claims in a patent may thus also be curtailed by the judgment of a court, as in also where a claim or the patent is held invalid under the relevant law, and thus is no longer enforceable.

Significant international harmonization of the patent term which was across the national laws was however provided in the 1990s by the implementation of the WTO  Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights which was also called as the (TRIPs
Agreement). Article 33 of the TRIPs Agreement thus provided that the
"The term of the protection which is however available [for the patents] shall not however end before the expiration of a period of twenty years counted from the filing date.&quot.

Consequently, in most of the patent laws nowadays, the term of the patent is however 20 years from the filing date of the application. This however also does not forbid the states party to the WTO from thus providing, in their national law, any other type of the patent- like rights with the shorter terms. Utility models  are thus considered as an example of such
rights. Their term is thus usually from 6 or 10 years.

However when we particularly talk about India, the term of every kind patent which is however granted under the Act is thus twenty years
from the date of filing. The patents which are however in force on 20th May 2003 stood extended for the term of 20 years. The term of the patent thus in case of an International applications which is however filed
under the PCT, designating India, is twenty years from the international filing date which is accorded under the PCT.

Renewal fee is thus required to be paid annually in order to keep the patent in force. Restoration of the patents is however possible if it is applied within 18 months from the date of lapse.

Last but not the least, in order to navigate patent law, one will have to read this article further.

The small-scale inventors and the entrepreneurs are however being
forced in order to consider the new ways to either get a patent passed or to either go without. Here are however three tips for the purpose of protecting the new inventions for going forward:

1. File as soon as possible.
Under the new first-to- file system, it might however make more sense that the person ,files for a patent immediately . This is because , under the new first-to- file system, it however does not make any difference who had initially invented a new product or a technology . The first filer is however issued to the patent. That thus means that an inventor is however forced to file as soon as it is possible in order to prevent someone else from filing for the same patent . 

2. Keep your invention secret.
Small businesses who however want to protect their inventions without getting a patent might thus be elected in order to take the trade secret route instead. The problem is however that if the people can reverse engineer it, then one can  however protect it. He thus added that it also however helps in order to keep the secret close, between and also only a small number of the trusted employees.


3. Get a partner.

If the person gets a patent, he may thus need some help for paying for the legal fees in the event the patent is thus challenged or if he needs to pursue the infringers.

This article has been contributed by Simmi Setia, Content Writer at LegalRaasta, an online portal for GST SoftwareGST Return FilingGST Registration, Section 8 Company RegistrationNidhi Company RegistrationIEC RegistrationFssai LicenseFile ITR Online.

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