Procedure

In order to qualify for patent protection your invention should meet the following requirements:

–          The invention should be new (i.e. not yet disclosed to the public).

–          The invention should be sufficiently inventive (i.e. the invention must be non-obvious).

–          The invention should be industrially applicable.

During an initial introductory meeting you can talk about how your invention works with one of our patent attorneys and obtain his opinion on whether or not your invention is patentable. He can then prepare a patent application for you. This consists of a description and drawings explaining the invention as accurately as possible. If you agree to this your patent application will be filed with the official authority of your choice. Initially, this is usually the Netherlands or Europe. From the date of filing you have a year to decide whether or not you would like protection outside your chosen area. In that year you can for example try to find investors or see whether your product proves to be successful on the market. After the patent application has been filed the official authority will examine whether the application meets all conditions to be granted. They may consider the patent not to be new or inventive due to older patents which more or less describe the same invention. Your patent attorney will then prepare arguments to counter these objections. In more than 95% of cases the patent application will ultimately be granted. From grant onwards you may take action against infringers and label your product as being “patented” and thus protected by a patent.