Patents explained

What is a patent? Patents are the form of intellectual property that protects inventions, ie technically innovative features of new products or processes.  The patent system in each country is administered by that country's Patent Office. The Patent Office applies the relevant law (in the UK this is the Patents Act 1977) to the applications that it receives and decides whether those applications should be granted.

Will you get a patent? You should consider patenting your invention if you feel that the technical innovation you have made is something that your competitors would wish to copy if they were able to.  However, not everything is patentable. For instance, a patent will only be granted if the Patent Office is satisfied that the invention described in the application meets the following two critical criteria:

• the invention must be defined in terms that are novel, which means that the definition must be different to everything that was already in the public domain when the application was lodged

• the invention must be considered to be inventive, which means that it must be more than simply a trivial, insignificant or obvious development of something that was already known

Where AdamsonJones comes in

We are here to help you through every stage by making the patent application process as smooth and straightforward as possible.  The most important aspects of our role are:

• advising you whether a particular invention is likely to meet these requirements.  This might require us to carry out searches to establish the ways in which the invention differs from what has been done before.

• drafting the application in a way that offers the broadest protection, yet has a reasonable prospect of being allowed.

• steering the application through all the stages of the procedure.  This can be a lengthy and protracted process.

Securing continuous protection After a patent has been granted, we assist with the maintenance of the patent and advise on its enforcement should the patent be infringed by a competitor.

In addition to obtaining patents, we will also advise you on how to avoid problems with infringement of your competitors' patents, so ensuring your freedom to commercialise your products.
 

Download guides For more information about UK and overseas patent procedures and costs, follow these links:

Basic guide - UK Patents

Basic guide - International Patents

You may also find some of the links to external websites on our Useful Links page helpful.

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