As you know, there are two ways to protect inventions and creations: one is to apply for patent protection at the expense of disclosing the technology; the other is to protect it in the form of technical secrets without applying for patent protection.
Applying for a patent requires considerable manpower and financial resources, and even if a patent is obtained, patent protection is subject to regional and time limitations, that is, patent protection is only valid in the country and region that granted the patent. And it is valid within the protection period stipulated in the patent law. In addition, some patent applications are at risk of being rejected, and even if patent rights are granted, they are also at risk of being invalidated.
Technical know-how is also called technical secret. As the name suggests, technical know-how does not belong to the public technology category and is not suitable for patent application. Various confidentiality measures need to be taken to protect it. The advantages of adopting the technical know-how protection method are: there are no various application, review, and payment procedures; the disadvantage is that the protection is relatively weak. The licensee is mainly obliged to keep confidentiality through signing a licensing contract. If confidentiality is not strict, it will be violated by a third party. Having acquired this technology, only the parties to the contract can be held liable, not third parties. If a third party independently develops the same technology, not only cannot its use be prohibited, but also someone else has mastered the same technical know-how and applied for a patent. After obtaining the patent right, it will in turn restrict the enterprise that originally owned the technical know-how.
Due to the above-mentioned weaknesses in the protection method of technical know-how, this requires enterprises and individuals to fully consider whether the protection method of technical know-how or patent protection is appropriate before making a decision. Able to keep secrets. If it can be kept confidential, you should consider protecting it through technical know-how without applying for a patent. This will not only eliminate the cumbersome procedures of applying for a patent, but may also bring greater economic benefits to enterprises than applying for a patent. As we all know, the formula of American Coca-Cola drinks is protected by technical know-how. Coca-Cola has a history of more than 100 years, and its original solution formula is still confidential. Distribution stores around the world are only responsible for the final bottling, and the original solution is provided by Coca-Cola Corporation. It is said that today, no more than 10 people in the world know its formula. If the Coca-Cola Company had applied for and obtained a patent for the original solution formulation and production method, and disclosed all its secrets, then, more than a hundred years after its invention, anyone would surely be able to make Coca-Cola. Not applying for a patent for the original liquid formula, but protecting it as technical know-how, is the secret of Coca-Cola's ability to establish the world's largest beverage production and sales kingdom and dominate the market for a long time.
Therefore, if it is still impossible for others to understand the essential content of the invention-creation after it is implemented, protecting the invention-creation in the form of technical secrets is one of the desirable ways, and even Probably the best way. For example, the formulation and brewing process of Chinese herbal medicine, the smelting and heat treatment process of metal materials, and other innovative inventions. After the Chinese herbal medicine and metal products involved in these inventions and creations are put into the commercial field, others are still unable to analyze the processing technology. Key points.
One thing that needs to be pointed out is that the necessary confidentiality measures must be taken to constitute a trade secret. Technology without internal registration measures is not considered a trade secret.
However, for ordinary technologies, the core technology of the invention and creation is likely to be known to others through various channels and cannot be kept confidential. In this case, the technical achievements cannot be protected as technical secrets. At this time, it would be better to apply for patent protection than to protect technical secrets. The risk of applying for a patent lies in disclosing the content of the invention, which is often referred to as "disclosure in exchange for protection."
The Patent Law stipulates that after an invention or creation has obtained patent rights, no unit or individual may exploit the patent without the permission of the patentee, that is, the patent may not be manufactured, used or sold for production and business purposes. product, or use its patented method; after the invention patent application is published, the applicant may request the unit or individual who implemented the invention to pay appropriate fees. If the implementing unit requests the patent management agency for mediation or directly files a lawsuit in court after the patent is granted.
When deciding whether to apply for a patent or protect it as a trade secret, the applicant needs to comprehensively consider the above factors.