According to the law, patents are granted only to inventors. As for how the inventor transfers to the enterprise where he works, it is done through agreement. However, it must be ensured that the patent application contains the names of all inventors. When applying for a patent, an enterprise should consider the present and future market field, financial situation, the possibility of cooperation and cooperative research and development, the degree of understanding of laws, the bargaining power under these laws, the market scale and other factors, so as to design an effective strategy. China has acceded to the Patent Cooperation Treaty and the Paris Convention. According to the Paris Convention, patent applications filed by China citizens in China can be given corresponding priority in other member countries of the Convention. Of course, applications can also be filed in all member States through the Patent Cooperation Treaty. Once the PCT patent application is filed, the international research report of 18 months will be obtained. Enterprises can evaluate the possibility of design technology according to the initial application in different countries. Although the above two methods will produce some expenses, they can greatly reduce the risk of application.
In the patent specification, all the testing processes of related inventions must be described in detail. When microbial inventions are involved, the vaccine must be kept in an authoritative preservation institution, so as to obtain the registration number of the vaccine and record it in the patent specification. Preserving vaccines also costs money, but it won't cost much if it doesn't involve new cell varieties. In addition, inventions involving gene expression: DNA and RNA must also describe the consequences in the patent specification. When applying in a non-English-speaking country, there will be additional costs due to translation.
Maintaining patents not only requires paying annual fees, but also more and more important expenses are used to protect related patents from infringement or challenges from others. The patent granted by the patent authority does not mean that it has obtained any privilege from judicial inquiry within the validity period. According to the TRIPS Agreement, many countries stipulate that the patent protection period is 20 years. Usually, few people notice that the reasons for questioning an authorized patent are usually lack of novelty, wrong ownership or obvious. Therefore, enterprises must carefully keep records for at least 20 years. In view of possible disputes in the future, enterprises need to keep all necessary documents, such as research and development work records and other materials, technical documents used in patent applications, production cost quantity, sales data and scope, raw material quantity and price and other details.
For enterprises in China, keeping relevant patent records is a weak link. In the field of patent rights, people always think of concepts such as patents and trade secrets, but in fact, keeping relevant patent records is not limited to this, and an enterprise must also consider many other situations. The basic records kept for an invention should include: permanent and bound records; Try not to use loose-leaf form, because it may reduce the credibility of records; All page numbers must be marked continuously; Use high quality paper and ink; All records must be formally signed by authorized personnel; Describe all test details, settings, test conditions, etc. Record all observations.
Compared with the past, cooperative research and development between enterprises seems to become more frequent. The motives and purposes of cooperative research and development are different, and some are to share the developed special technology and equipment; Some are made by using market networks and shared equipment. When conducting cooperative research and development, both parties need to sign a formal contract to conclude the ownership relationship of intellectual property rights in different countries; Share the cost of acquiring and maintaining intellectual property rights and the benefits that follow; Methods of keeping business secrets; Evaluation of intellectual property rights of all parties before cooperative research and development; Ownership of intellectual property rights arising in the course of the project that have nothing to do with planning and dispute resolution. If the intellectual property of the sponsor is stronger than that of the partner, cooperative research and development can be carried out according to the wishes of the sponsor. Many other factors should be included in the agreement and special attention should be paid to the confidentiality of the research and development process.
Enterprises often ignore other things related to intellectual property when obtaining technological achievements. When checking intellectual property contracts, we should check all the clauses related to patents, trademarks, technical secrets, draft plans and raw materials, and we must emphasize the necessity of clarifying contractual obligations. For example, many contracts stipulate that the licensee has no right to question the validity of the licensor's patent; Or Licensor may require Licensee to purchase raw materials without patent right from Licensor; Or infringement caused by the licensor's unintentional protection of others, and so on. When encountering matters related to intellectual property rights, we should check all relevant documents, such as the full text of patents, and check their effectiveness and whether they are applicable to the required technology. As far as the validity check is concerned, the enterprise does not need to rely entirely on the licensor, but should have independent opinions and make use of other information resources as much as possible. Related labels: