Patents: These “Mysterious Objects”

Patents, these “mysterious objects”*

*(At least as far as Italy is concerned)

Article by Bruno Rimoldi

Introduction
Telling AIDB members about the importance of patents and the need to understand them in order to make the best use of them—as well as to educate themselves—would be like preaching to the choir and might even come across as “making fun of them.”
But I still believe it could be useful to discuss patents on our website, especially if the goal is to reach—in a straightforward, non-technical way—people who, in one way or another, come into contact with our association.

When a new, revolutionary car (at least according to the manufacturer) was launched a few years ago, the thing that most caught the attention of readers of the newspaper that ran the article was the phrase in the headline: “… a small city car with 50 patents becomes one of a kind.”
The journalist (or, more likely, the “headline writer”) had rightly wanted to point out to readers just how much “protected” technology lay behind that product.
Patents are, in fact, public legal documents through which new industrially applicable inventions can be protected, granting their owners (companies, corporations, individuals) the exclusive right to use what is described, illustrated, and claimed therein—either by implementing it directly or by licensing it to third parties.
Although filing a patent does not automatically constitute an impenetrable bulwark against attempts at infringement, a patent is still the most appropriate legal weapon at one’s disposal, facilitating defensive and offensive actions by providing definitive dates and official documents to present against third parties.
Furthermore, patents (inventions, designs, trademarks) are company assets that should be properly leveraged and, in any case, must be defended through appropriate investments.
The most important thing, however, is to file them whenever an innovation is created; but to make the best use of them, it is essential to understand at least their basic characteristics. Unfortunately, our country—a land of navigators, artists, and inventors—lacks a “patent culture.” Inventors—whether they work within a company or are independent—even when they create technologically and commercially viable “innovations,” do not always have a clear understanding of how to protect them
adequately and, in general, either underestimate or overestimate both the invention itself and the legal means to protect it. In some cases, this leads to paradoxical consequences: inventions effectively given away to competitors because they are not adequately protected; a multitude of foreign patents licensed due to the inadequacy of the national “patent portfolio”; and, at times, even investments made in response to nonexistent “exclusive rights.”
The lack of attention to—and consequently the limited use of—patenting is certainly a problem felt more acutely by us, where the productive base consists of small and medium-sized artisanal and industrial enterprises that, by prudently using patents, designs, and trademarks to protect their creativity, could improve their respective sectoral performance.
Unfortunately, the lack of knowledge about patents—what they are and how to use them—among those who drive innovation still leads to limited use of legal protection (patenting) for their inventions in Italy. And sometimes patents are not filed simply because people are convinced that a patent is of little value or that it involves too high a cost. But this limited use of patenting has contributed, along with other factors, to placing Italy near the bottom of the list of industrialized nations.
Learning more as soon as possible therefore helps to best define the strategy to adopt for adequately protecting one’s innovations, minimizing the risk of risky or wrong decisions, and helping the inventor make the most of the exclusivity granted by a valid patent.
The judicious use of patents to protect one’s innovations can also make the difference between one company and another; in fact, a “leading” company is almost always one that, in addition to being innovative in its sector, has from the very beginning correctly used patents to adequately protect and defend its innovations and has continuously innovated and protected them, investing as much as necessary to maintain a sufficient lead over the competition.
However, to adequately protect one’s inventions, it is extremely important to take due account of the prior “state of the art,” which consists primarily of all prior patent documents filed and published anywhere.
A wealth of texts, drawings, claims, examples, and diagrams: a treasure trove of vital information on what others have already conceived. In fact, the publication of patent documents as early as the application stage (i.e., before a patent is granted) is required by various laws precisely to allow interested third parties to learn, as soon as possible, what has already been the subject of a patent application, to avoid duplicating experiments that have already been conducted and, at the same time, to avoid infringing on inventions that are already protected. Precisely because this prior art is documented in its various aspects and made available to all interested parties, it is unthinkable that an innovator would fail to consult it. Access to this documentation is also essential for analyzing what has been patented previously—not only in one’s own country but also in other nations—in order to properly assess the novelty of one’s own invention and to draft one’s patent accordingly. Patent documents also contain information regarding innovations that have never been implemented and are therefore not detectable at trade shows, in catalogs, or in other types of publications; these innovations are nonetheless documentable and thus can no longer be claimed as new and exclusive in subsequent patents by anyone, regardless of where they are filed.
Doing your research before filing a patent—and in any case before investing in research to develop a “new” invention—is of fundamental importance for all businesses, regardless of their size or the industry in which they operate. Discovering, “after” having invested in research, advertising, patents, etc., that one’s innovation cannot guarantee any exclusivity—or, worse, that what was thought to be one’s own original creation is covered by a valid patent held by others—is not only unpleasant but also very, very costly.
Innovation can arise in any industrial sector—and beyond—often on a small scale, though sometimes on such a grand scale that it revolutionizes certain processes, rendering obsolete equipment that had previously been considered irreplaceable—even if this, of course, only happens when the innovation is economically viable.
The fact that there are prior patents—and there almost always are, that is, innovations developed by others—means, as mentioned earlier, that it is necessary to conduct research based on the “state of the art” even before beginning to design a “new” solution.
Of course, it’s not easy to navigate all the available material to set up the search that best suits your specific case. It is therefore advisable to rely on patent search experts—that is, professionals who routinely conduct patent searches and are therefore able to guide and assist those interested by initiating the most appropriate “targeted” search or set of searches on their behalf. Bruno Rimoldi

The ideas and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of AIDB.